I Don't Remember
by JustAn0therGuy
Summary: Ash, Brock and Dawn travel through the Sinnoh region. But in this story, they have another companion with them. Who is he? Even he doesn't know! Join the gang as they go on a reimagined journey of the Pokemon DP anime while attempting to discover who their mysterious friend really is. Will he find old friends? A family? A home? How will he influence his three travelling companions?
1. Following A Maiden's Voyage

**AN: Hi everyone! This is my first ever Pokemon fanfiction which I hope you will enjoy! The story follows the Diamond and Pearl Anime with a 4th companion added to the group of Ash, Dawn and Brock. Some chapters (such as this first one) will be based off real episodes from the show, while others will be completely new content. Their new friend has lost his memory completely, and he joins the group with the hope of rediscovering his past. It will take him a while to discover his own secrets, so don't expect too much to be revealed at once. In this first chapter, he doesn't even know his name. (But don't worry, he'll get a name shortly.) This first chapter will be in third person, from the perspective of Dawn's loveable partner Piplup!**

 **Please enjoy, and of course, I don't own Po** **kemon.**

* * *

Piplup was feeling pleased with itself. The group of Ariados had been sent packing when Piplup gave them a dose of its Bide attack. The Blue haired girl it was protecting was very grateful for what Piplup had done. She grabbed the tired Penguin Pokemon and began to walk away from the scene of the battle. After a few moments, they stopped.

" **Hey look Piplup, it's Lake Verity."** Said the girl.

She wore a white beanie hat with the top half of a pink Pokéball on the front. Her eyes were the colour of a Saphire and a Pink scarf was around her neck. She also wore a black vest which exposed her shoulders, a short pink skirt and pink boots on her feet.

Before anything else could be said, Piplup's stomach growled loudly, causing it to blush. The girl didn't have much food left, but she gave what she had to the hungry Pokémon. They were just about to begin heading back to the lab when they heard a very strange noise.

Piplup looked up, and to its surprise there was something very unusual in the air. Floating about 10 feet above ground, there was some sort of 'hole' in the sky. It was fairly circular, around 10 feet in diameter.

 **"Woah, what's that? Some sort of Black hole?"** The girl exclaimed.

What they saw next shocked them both as Piplup could make out 2 figures being launched out of the hole. They were moving fast so it was difficult to make out the details, but one was clearly a Human while the other was much smaller. Surely a Pokémon?

The pair were sent hurtling through the air. They fell straight into Lake Verity, causing a large splash that drenched Piplup completely. Instinctively, the Penguin Pokémon leaped into the lake, desperate to try and help the mysterious pair. As Piplup dove underwater it saw the 2 of them, sinking towards the bottom of the lake. As Piplup swam towards them it was stunned when they were both enveloped by some sort of underwater mist.

Piplup quickly resurfaced, jumping up and down, frantically waving its flippers up and down.

" **Piplup! Lup! Pip! Pip!"** It yelled, trying to get the girl's attention.

However, her attention was clearly drawn elsewhere as she was staring at something behind Piplup, her mouth open wide showing the shock on her face. Piplup turned around to see a mysterious figure seemingly taking shape from the mist. It had a small body, with a slightly larger head. It appeared to have 4 long curly Ears as well as 2 long curly Tails.

" **Wh-what's going on? Did that figure summon the hole in the sky?"** Asked the confused girl. At that moment, the mysterious hole quickly began to shrink, until it was no longer there at all.

Just then, Piplup noticed something. Sprawled out on the grass next to them were 2 unconscious bodies. It was the same 2 that had fallen from the sky! Now that they weren't moving so fast, Piplup could see what they were. The first was a young man, who looked maybe a little older than Piplup's Human friend. He had short black hair, pale skin, a dark green T-shirt, and black shorts and trainers. Piplup immediately noticed an abundance of cuts and bruises along the young man's Arms and Legs. The second was a small blue Pokémon. It had 4 short Legs, a short black tail with a yellow star on the end, and the rear half of its body was black. If Piplup had learned anything from listening to the Professor back at the Lab, that was a Shinx. They both looked exhausted and beaten up. The good thing, though, was that both were breathing heavily, which is far better than not breathing at all!

" **Oh dear. They don't look okay. Piplup, we have to help them!"** exclaimed the girl.

Panic showed on her face as she and her Penguin friend frantically paced up and down wondering what they could do for at least a minute or so.

Suddenly, they heard a painful groan. It was the Human! Piplup and the girl dashed towards him as he weakly opened his eyes. He was clearly making some effort to say something but didn't have the strength to do so.

 **"** **F-f-food. P-p-please."** He managed to mutter, just loud enough to be heard. They had none, so Piplup quickly sprinted off into the nearby woods to search for some sort of food, clumsily tripping over every few steps. Cries of "Pip!" "Lup!" and of course "Piplup!" were heard frequently.

" **Piplup! Over here quick! There's some fruit in this tree!"** It was well out of reach so the girl thought for a moment until an idea came to her. "Piplup use Bubblebeam!" Piplup obeyed her command despite her not yet being its Trainer. It successfully knocked a few Oran Berries down. They ran back over to the Human and the Shinx, who were both now awake but still laid on the floor. The girl fed some berries to the boy while Piplup did the same for Shinx. The pair could barely muster the strength to chew at first, but with each berry they seemed to gain strength.

After they were out of berries, the young man managed to push himself into a sitting position. He glanced over at the girl.

 **"** **Th-thank you.** **"** He managed the faintest smile.

She blushed slightly. **"Oh it was nothing. Piplup did all the work."** Piplup also blushed a little.

" **My name's Dawn, and this here is Piplup. It's a really brave Pokémon."** Piplup's blush intensified.

" **What's your name?"**

The young man seemed to be thinking for a moment, scratching the back of his head. It looked, at least, as though his strength was returning to him.

He Frowned. **"Honestly, I've got no idea. I don't seem to remember anything!"**

Dawn looked puzzled. **"Nothing? Not even your name?"**

The young man responded. **"Nope. Nothing at all. Sorry."**

" **So who's this Pokemon with you?"** She gestured towards Shinx.

The young man turned around and for a moment, his eyes lit up.

" **That's a Shinx, right?"** He asked and both Dawn and Piplup nodded.

" **Well, Shinx is my partner. I'm sure of it!"** He looked much happier now.

" **So if Shinx is your partner, where's its Pokéball?"** Dawn questioned.

He felt around his clothing for a pocket containing a Pokéball, only to find he didn't have a single item in his possession.

" **I guess I don't have one. But Shinx is my partner. I'm certain about it!"** Upon hearing these words Shinx seemed to regain much more of its strength. The Electric type leaped onto its feet and nodded in agreement, a beaming smile on its face.

At last the young man was able to stand up too. He was noticeably taller than Dawn, upon standing it also became more visible that he was rather muscular. He seemed to have the physique of someone who worked out every day.

" **So, Dawn and Piplup, how did you find us?"** He asked.

Dawn did her best to explain everything. The hole in the sky. Them falling out of it and the mysterious mist that saved them.

The young man looked stunned. **"So, let me get this straight. We fell out of the sky, were about to drown and were saved by some sort of magical mist Pokémon?"**

Dawn smiled sheepishly. **"Well, pretty much, yes."**

The young man though for a moment. Under other circumstances he might not have believed her, but somehow he didn't doubt her words one bit.

" **In that case, Dawn and Piplup, we owe our lives to you. I will do my best to repay you someday, somehow."** Dawn smiled in appreciation of his offer.

After a moment a thought came to Dawn's mind. **"So, what are you going to do now?"**

A puzzled expression appeared on the young man's face, until he eventually shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

" **In that case, why don't you come with us? Soon Piplup will become my partner and we're going on a journey around Sinnoh. My aim is to someday become top Coordinator! Maybe we can find out who you are!"**

The young man grinned. **"** **Well it doesn't look like I have any other option does it? I don't know what a subordinator is but** **I'm sure you'll be a great one so let's do it!"**

Dawn sighed. **"** **I said Coordinator. But thanks. And there's no need to worry. We'll find out who you are soon enough I'm sure."**

The two young adults grinned and set off towards Professor Rowan's lab so Dawn could officially receive Piplup as her Pokémon. Little did they know this was the start of an epic journey.

* * *

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ash Ketchum was departing a large ferry. An Electric type Mouse was sat upon his Shoulder. He was due to meet up with his long time friend, Brock, in a couple of hours. Their Sinnoh journey was about to get underway. What he didn't notice, though, was the Meowth shaped Hot Air Balloon floating overhead, containing a certain villainous trio he was all too familiar with...

* * *

 **AN: So what do you think? Reviews would be appreciated. Especially constructive criticism. Speech is in bold to make it easier to distinguish from regular text. In the next chapter our new hero will discover a little bit more about himself and Shinx, his name will be revealed, and he and Dawn will encounter Ash and Brock for the first time. It also may or may not include a certain blue haired man, pink haired woman and talking cat-like Pokemon.**

 **Also, he will be catching more Pokemon throughout the story. Some of them will be heavily plot driven. Ash, Dawn and Brock will be catching the same Pokemon as they do in the real show, but they aren't the main focus of the story, so they will be catching their team members in-between chapters.**

 **One last thing. I've always thought the idea of 10-year-olds travelling the world is pretty stupid. So in this story Ash started his journey aged 14 and has been travelling for 4 years. In the Sinnoh region, though, rules are harsher and the minimum age for new Trainers is 17. So here's the official age of our 4 heroes:**

 **Ash - 18**

 **Dawn - 17**

 **Brock - 23**

 **? - 19**

 **Thanks for reading! I will do my best to update this story regularly. Hopefully the next chapter will be out within the next day or 2.**


	2. Two Degrees Of Separation

**Thanks for all the views guys! There's a lack of reviews for sure but I still appreciate how many people have read the first chapter.**

 **Here we are, chapter 2. This one is loosely based on episode 2 of the DP anime, with quite a few changes of course. This is written from the perspective of Dawn, who is my personal favourite of all Ash's companions. Our Protagonist's name is revealed along with one of his past Pokemon.**

 **Please enjoy! I don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

They were within a few seconds of arriving at the lab. Dawn was riding her Bike, with Piplup sitting comfortably in the basket attached to the front. She felt a little bad riding the Bike. She had offered to let her new friend ride after his exhausting experience, but he'd insisted he was fine on foot. To Dawn's amazement, the young man had no trouble at all keeping up with her on foot. She was travelling at a decent pace yet, if anything, she was the one looking more tired than he was running beside her. Even more amazing was that his little partner, Shinx, despite its short legs was also easily able to keep up. In fact, it almost looked as if it was getting bored and wanted to go faster.

Moments later, they arrived. Dawn leaned her Bike against the building's walls as she knocked on the door of the laboratory. The young man and Shinx looked a little embarrassed, feeling as though they weren't supposed to be there. After a short time, an elderly man wearing a lab coat answered the door. He had grey hair and a large moustache. It was, of course, the person Dawn was looking for: Professor Rowan.

" **Ah. Dawn, I was just wondering where you'd gotten off to. Please come in. And I see you've brought a friend."** The Professor said in a deep booming voice.

The young man smiled. **"A pleasure to meet you, Professor."** He said nervously. He was clearly dreading the question that would inevitably come next.

" **And who might you be, young friend of Dawn's?"** The Professor asked.

Dawn instantly felt bad for her new friend. He was looking more and more nervous. Clearly, he didn't know how to explain that he didn't even know his own name.

" **Well, you see, it's a long story."** She added to try and help him out. He smiled at her nervously, appreciating her help.

Dawn did her best to explain the events from earlier in the day. She felt silly even bothering to explain. Surely there was no way the Professor would believe her?

When she was done explaining, to her astonishment, the Professor nodded and said **"It sounds like you encountered the mythical Pok** **é** **mon Mesprit. There's been many rumours of such a Pok** **émon inhabiting that lake."**

Dawn was stunned. She was certain he would laugh off her story as nonsense, yet he reacted as though it was the type of thing that happened every day.

" **So, um, Professor… do you know anything about this hole in the sky?"** The young man spoke up at last.

The Professor paused for a moment before deciding **"** **Unfortunately, I've never heard of such a thing. Perhaps it was some type of portal created by a Psychic type Pokémon?"**

" **Hey, I know you!"** Just then, one of the Professor's assistants appeared behind the Professor. He and a few other scientists had been listening on the conversation. Amazingly, he appeared to be speaking to the young man and his Shinx.

He turned towards the Professor. **"** **We saw him around a year ago, right?"**

The Professor seemed to think for a moment, before finally realising **"** **Ah! That's right! I thought** **he looked familiar! You've a much better memory than me. Which isn't a surprise considering my old age."** The Professor chuckled.

The assistant spoke directly to the young man and his Shinx. **"** **Let me tell you how we encountered you. Perhaps it will jog your memory."**

* * *

(12 months earlier, Professor Rowan's lab)

The Professor was busy conducting some important research related to Mount Coronet, when suddenly he heard a knock at the door. Moments later, he could hear one of his assistants in conversation with an unfamiliar voice. Reluctantly, he left his research table for a moment to see who it was.

When he got to the door he could see 3 figures. The first was a short, 4-legged Pokémon. Clearly, a Shinx. In the middle stood a young man, with dark blue eyes and short dark hair. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt, black shorts and black trainers. He was quite thin without much muscle. The final figure was a large, prehistoric looking Pokémon with sharp claws. The Professor was mildly surprised. A Kabutops! They're quite rare. Especially in Sinnoh.

" **What brings you here, young man?"** The Professor questioned.

The young man responded **"** **Well, you see, I need to ask you a big favour Professor. For complicated reasons that I don't have time to explain, Kabutops here really needs somewhere to stay. I couldn't think of anywhere other than at your laboratory."**

The Professor frowned. **"** **Hmm, well I'm afraid we can't just take in any old Pokémon. It has to be the Pokémon of someone who received their starter Pokémon here. Although, depending on where you're from, we may be able to make an exception. Can you tell me, what is your name young man? I'll look up your Trainer profile."**

The young man looked very disappointed. **"** **The name's Hugo, although you won't find much information looking me up."**

Professor Rowan immediately searched his computer system for a trainer named Hugo.

Hugo Smith, from Cerulean City, Kanto. Current Pokémon: Pidgey, Rattata, Grimer, Drowzee.

" **No, that's not him."** Mumbled the Professor.

Hugo Dawson, from Violet City, Johto. Current Pokémon: Fearow, Ampharos, Umbreon, Steelix, Scizor, Alakazam.

" **An impressive team indeed, but sadly that's not him either."**

For the next few minutes the Professor looked through every known trainer named Hugo in the Pokémon world, unable to find the right person. At last, he gave up, he turned to face Hugo.

 **"** **I'm very sorry, young man, but I'm afraid we can't take in your Kabutops."**

Hugo couldn't hide the disappointment on his face, but he nodded understandingly. **"** **Thanks a lot for trying."** He returned Shinx and Kabutops to their Pokéballs, then turned and walked out of the door, hanging his head in despair, not once turning back as the Professor watched him disappear into the distance.

* * *

(Present day, Professor Rowan's lab)

Hugo stood silent for a moment. **"** **So… I'm Hugo? I guess?"** He quietly muttered.

 **"** **Yes, I'm afraid that's all the information you told us about yourself."** Answered the Professor.

Hugo was clearly very upset at the lack of information he found out from the story. Dawn did her best to cheer him up.

 **"** **Well, now we know your name, and that you have a Kabutops! If we can find your Kabutops, maybe we can find out more."** She did her best to sound as cheerful as possible.

It seemed to work well, as Hugo suddenly stood much more upright. **"** **That's right! And I just had a thought. What if Shinx remembers something? If only we had some sort of Pokémon translator so we could ask Shinx."**

" **Haha, well the only way that could happen would be if there were some Pokémon who could speak, and I can't see Piplup talking any time soon!"** Dawn announced, giggling as she spoke. Everyone in the room laughed, and the mood lightened up somewhat.

" **Yeah, who knows? Maybe we'll encounter some sort of talking Meowth or something!"** Hugo was laughing, which cheered Dawn up. It was the first time she'd seen him laugh since she'd found him back at the lake.

* * *

Around an hour had passed since Dawn and Hugo had left the Lab. Dawn now had Piplup's Pokéball in her possession, although it seemed happier out of it. Just like earlier, she was riding her Bike, with Piplup in the front basket, Hugo and Shinx easily keeping up on foot. They were heading through a small woods when suddenly, out of the bushes leaped a small yellow Pokémon. Dawn didn't have a huge knowledge of different Pokémon species but she knew what this one was: A Pikachu! It ran right in front of Dawn on her bike. She had barely any time to react. She desperately tried to swerve out of the way, managing to narrowly avoid hitting Pikachu. However, the swiftness of her actions caused her to lose control of the Bike. She screamed as she was launched over the handle bars. She and Piplup were sent soaring through the air.

She was only in the air for a second or two, but it seemed like forever. Dawn thought to herself **"** **This is it. I'm gonna end up in Hospital. My Sinnoh journey over before it began."** She closed her eyes in fear.

Somehow, though, at the last moment she felt a pair of hands grab her just above her hips. Dawn opened her eyes to see what had happened. She was stunned when she saw Hugo standing there, grinning at her. Despite being several feet away, he'd somehow managed to react so quickly that he'd caught her before she hit the ground.

" **In future, be more careful or you'll end up like your bike."** He said in such a casual tone as if nothing had happened. Dawn turned to see her bike in a heavily damaged state. The seat had fallen off, the chain had completely come off too and the handlebars had cracks all over. No way was she riding that any time soon!

" **Piplup! Lup! Lup! Piplup!"** The Penguin Pokémon rejoiced. It too had been caught at the last moment by Hugo's partner, Shinx. Dawn wondered how Hugo and Shinx had such fast reflexes but she saw no point in asking them. It's not as though they'd remember how they gained such skills.

Then she remembered what had caused all this trouble. She turned to where the Pikachu had been stood. However, standing there now were 2 young men. On the left was a Dark skinned young man with black spiky hair. He wore a Dark green shirt very similar to Hugo's with a black and orange jacket on top. He wore some grey trousers and black sneakers. Dawn couldn't help but notice his peculiar eyes, but if she asked him about them would he be offended? She decided to keep quiet. The second person was a raven haired boy, he wore a red and black cap with the top half of a green Pokéball on the front. He had "Z" shaped markings on both cheeks. He also wore a dark blue hoodie with black sleeves, light blue leggings and black sneakers similar to the other person's. There was a Starly flying just over his head, on both his shoulder were Pokémon. On his right a Purple monkey-like Pokémon. Aipom! And on his left shoulder was that blasted Pikachu from earlier! Dawn felt a little bit angry at Pikachu but her anger quickly subsided when the saw the sorry expression on its face. The raven-haired boy was around average height. The dark skinned man was taller, maybe around 6 feet tall, but neither of them were as tall as Hugo. This made Dawn realise that Hugo must have been well over 6 foot. She felt tiny in comparison.

The raven-haired boy gave her a goofy grin. **"** **So sorry about your Bike. You see, Pikachu just wasn't looking where it was going."** Pikachu smiled sheepishly.

Dawn smiled. **"** **No need to worry. I'm Dawn and this is my partner Piplup."**

 **"** **Piplup! Lup! Pip!"** The Penguin Pokémon chimed in.

Hugo tried to continue her sentence for her. **"** **You're trying to become a floordinator, right?"**

Dawn sighed. **"** **That's not even a word, and yes, my dream is to become top Coordinator."**

The taller, darker skinned man tossed a Pokéball in the air. **"** **Come on out!"**

" **Bonsly!"** The appearing Pokémon cried out.

 **"** **Pleased to meet you Dawn. I'm Brock and this is Bonsly."**

The raven-haired boy began to speak **"** **And I'm..."**

" **Ash Ketchum. From Pallet town."** Dawn turned. The person who'd just said that was none other than Hugo. He had a very serious expression. Dawn was wondering how he could possibly know who Ash is if he didn't even remember his own name? As if he were reading her thoughts, he looked towards her and shrugged.

" **So you've heard of me? Awesome! These are my Pokémon Aipom, Starly and you've already met Pikachu I guess."** Ash spoke up.

" **Me and my good friend Brock have travelled all through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, then back through Kanto, and now we're ready to take on the Sinnoh region!"** Both trainers raised their fists triumphantly.

" **This time, I really will become a Pokémon master!"** He stated confidently.

" **And I'll become the world's greatest Pokémon breeder!"** Brock added.

Brock paused for a moment. **"** **So, we never got your name."** He glanced over at Hugo.

" **It's Hugo, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Ash and Brock."** He faked a smile. Once again he was looking nervous about having to explain everything to more people.

" **You see, he lost his memory."** Dawn said, once again trying to help out her mysterious friend.

Ash and Brock looked at each other for a moment. Dawn got the feeling they'd seen many crazy things on their travels. For some reason, she had a feeling they wouldn't have any trouble believing Hugo's story.

Suddenly, they all heard a cry. **"** **Pika pi!"** It came from above. Dawn glanced up to see Ash's Pikachu trapped in a small cage attached to a chain. Looking up further she noticed the chain was hanging from a Hot Air Balloon in the air. What was peculiar about this Balloon was that the balloon was in the shape of a Meowth's head. Evil sounding laughter could be heard from within the balloon. Ash and Brock seemed to instantly know what was going on, and they both looked mad. Three figures could be seen within the balloon. As Pikachu's cage was raised higher and higher, one of them shouted in a woman's voice **"** **Prepare for trouble!"**

* * *

 **So there we have it! Our newly named protagonist, Hugo, has met Ash and Brock for the first time. It's the start of a great friendship between them, but what will they all teach each other? What else will they discover about Hugo's past? How did he know who Ash was?  
**

 **I'm excited for chapter 3. In it we will learn that Hugo's partner, Shinx, has a secret that nobody yet knows about. It will also contain Hugo's first battle of the story. But who will he be battling against and what will be his reasons for battling them? (Spoiler: It's not Team Rocket) You'll have to wait and see...**

 **There will also be a few running gags throughout this story. One of which you may have already noticed. And for those who love Team Rocket (like me) don't worry, they have a role to play in this story too.**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash - Pikachu, Aipom, Starly**

 **Brock - Bonsly**

 **Dawn - Piplup**

 **Hugo - Shinx**


	3. When Pokemon Worlds Collide

**Thanks for reading guys! Over 60 people have now read the start of this story. It's really appreciated. Special thanks to DragonFelicis for the nice reviews :)**

 **Time for Chapter 3. Once again, we get a different POV for this chapter. This time it's Pikachu's turn.**

 **Thanks for reading. I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

Pikachu was all too familiar with the trio looming above them in their Hot Air Balloon. It wished it wasn't though.

" **Prepare for trouble!"**

 **"And make it double!"**

 **"An evil as old as the galaxy!"**

" **Sent here to fulfil our destiny!"**

" **With Meowth, that's me!"** Below Pikachu's cage, Dawn and Hugo flinched in shock at hearing a talking Pokémon for the first time in their lives.

" **To denounce the evils of truth and love!"**

 **"To extend our reach to the starts above!"**

" **Jessie!"**

 **"And James!"**

 **"Meowth's the name!"**

 **"Wherever there's peace in the universe, Team Rocket is there to make everything worse!"** Suddenly two more figures sprung out of their Pokéballs.

 **"Wooooooobuffet!"**

" **Mime Mime!"**

" **Hmm, something's not feeling quite right, perhaps we should make improvements to the old motto for the next chapter?"** James asked.

 **"You're right, we should change it to something that really brings out my true beauty."** Exclaimed Jessie. Pikachu didn't understand how a motto could affect a person's beauty. Jessie really was weird.

 **"You guys! This isn't time for writing rhymes. It's time for committing crimes!"** Interrupted Meowth.

" **You give Pikachu back right now!"** Ash yelled angrily.

 **"And why would we do such a thing when it's much more fun keeping it for ourselves?"** Asked Jessie.

 **"Besides, think of how much more useful Pikachu would be for the boss than he is for you annoying twerps."** Added Meowth.

" **That's it! Starly! Use Wing Attack!"** Starly immediately flew towards the balloon.

 **"Not so fast! Stop them Ca** **rnivine** **old chum!"** James launched a Pokéball containing the grass-type, which immediately turned around and began chomping on James's head. **"** **No! it's time to fight not time to bite!"**

 **"** **Seviper!** **Help** **them** **out!"** Ordered Jessie.

After Carnivine was detatched from James's head, the two Pokémon launched themselves at Starly.

" **Starly, dodge!"** This was Starly's first battle, so its reflexes were slow. It couldn't get out of the way in time.

" **Seviper, Poison Tail!"** Jessie ordered.

" **Carnivine, Bullet Seed!"** James commanded.

Meanwhile, Hugo clearly had different plans. **"Hey** **Dawn, can I borrow your Pok** **é** **dex for a moment please?"** Dawn realised what he wanted to do. She handed it to him. He quickly scanned his Electric partner.

 **"Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When it senses danger, the hairs on its body light up and it runs away, leaving its opponent dazed. Common moves for Shinx are moves such as Spark, Tackle, Bite and Discharge."**

 **"Perfect."** Hugo grinned. **"Now Shinx, use Spark and aim it at Meowth!"**

Pikachu wondered why he wanted to target Meowth specifically.

Shinx looked like it was concentrating for a moment until it turned and looked at its trainer, shaking its head.

" **So you don't know Spark huh? Well how about this? Use Discharge on Meowth!"** Once again, Shinx concentrated for a moment until it gave up on the move, frowning at its trainer.

" **So what moves DO you know?"** Hugo questioned.

Pikachu felt frustrated. It wished it could get down there and show Shinx a real Electric type attack, but it was stuck in this tiny cage.

Suddenly, its attention was drawn back to its own trainer.

 **"Aipom! Finish it with Focus Punch!"** Pikachu glanced over towards Aipom. Its fist was glowing. Next to it, an injured Carnivine and Seviper looked frightened at the incoming attack. How had Ash turned things around so quickly? Then Pikachu noticed how.

" **Piplup! Help Aipom out with Peck!"** The two attacks both scored critical hits on Team Rocket's Pokémon. Dawn's Piplup packed a decent punch. Or rather, a decent peck.

" **Waaaaaaah!"** Jessie, James, Meowth, Wobbuffet and Mime Jr huddled together as their two allies came hurtling towards them. A large explosion occurred moments later. The chain holding up Pikachu's cage snapped and Pikachu began falling towards the ground far below.

" **We're blasting off again!"** Yelled the Team Rocket trio as they disappeared into the sky.

" **What is it with people falling out of the sky today?"** Dawn muttered under her breath.

" **Pikachu, no!"** Ash yelled as he sprinted towards his falling partner. Things seemed pretty helpless though. There was no way he'd get there in time and his Starly was too tired from the battle to fly. Pikachu was scared, until it saw something behind Ash. Once again, instinctively, Hugo came sprinting towards Pikachu. He whizzed past Ash and dove to catch Pikachu in his arms, getting there in the last second.

Before Ash or Pikachu had time to thank him, though, he put Pikachu down, looked up at the sky and yelled **"Wait! Meowth! Come back! I need your help!"** It was far too late. Meowth and co. were long gone due to their blast-off.

Moments later, Brock and Dawn caught up to them. They both put their hands on their Knees, gasping for breath. **"You two… are fast."** gasped Brock.

" **What did you want with Meowth?"** Ash asked.

Hugo frowned. **"I've never seen a talking Pok** **é** **mon before. I was hoping he could speak to Shinx and ask it if it remembers anything.** Shinx looked sad.

Pikachu didn't understand what he meant. Remembers what?

Dawn seemed to read Pikachu's mind. **"It's a long story."** She began.

She once again explained everything. How she'd found Hugo, then what they learned at the lab. Pikachu might've been surprised, but it had been through so many adventures with Ash that nothing surprised it at this point.

Ash and Brock were the same. They'd had so many adventures with every legendary Pokémon from Kanto to Hoenn. Nothing fazed them any more. (Or so they thought. They'd be proved wrong later.)

" **I see."** Brock said calmly. Ash quickly added. **"So you two, why don't you come along with us? If there's anyone who's good at solving problems and finding adventure, it's me and Pikachu."** Pikachu smiled and nodded.

Hugo, Dawn, Piplup and Shinx all looked happy, which made Pikachu feel happy. It would be nice to have some more friends to travel with. **"Pi Pi Pikachu!"** It cried happily.

" **As I said, I'm gonna be a Pokémon master. And the more friends I have helping me, the better my chances of becoming one."**

" **Awesome! You'll be Pok** **é** **mon master and I'll be top coordinator!"** Dawn yelled in a high pitched voice.

Hugo turned to Brock and spoke in a hushed tone. **"I've still got no idea what a spordilator is."**

Brock chuckled at his new friend's confusion.

" **Together the four of us, along with our Pok** **é** **mon, will take Sinnoh by storm!"** Ash announced courageously. He held out his palm, faced down. Pikachu put its hand on top. Then Brock, Dawn and Hugo followed. Piplup and Shinx added a flipper and paw respectively. Then all at once they raised their hands in the air. **"YEAH!"** They yelled together.

Meanwhile, stood atop an overlooking hill was a short, purple haired man with a purple jacket, black sleeves, dark coloured trousers and purple trainers. He'd been watching the whole ordeal. **"How pathetic."** He muttered under his breath.

* * *

Dawn, Brock, Hugo and Pikachu were waiting outside the Pokémon centre, when Ash stepped out. He was dressed in fresh new clothing provided by his Mother. His cap was very similar. Red and black with half a green Pokéball on the front covering his raven-hair above his chocolate brown eyes. His new dark blue jacket had the bottom half of a light blue Pokéball where his stomach was. His trousers and trainers were still the same as before. Light blue and black respectively. He also had some new, black and light green fingerless gloves.

For the first time, Hugo was able to return his Shinx to its Pokéball since he obtained a new one from Nurse Joy. They'd all had a good night's rest at the centre and were ready to being their first full day travelling together.

" **Finally. I've been waiting for you."** Pikachu turned and saw the purple haired boy leaning against a tree, glaring straight at Ash. **"** **Your Pok** **é** **mon are fully rested now. Wanna battle?"** Ash thought for a moment.

" **Sure. I'm ready. I'm gonna be Pokémon master and the way to do that is to beat challengers like you."** Pikachu jumped forward. **"Pika!"** It was ready for action.

Moments later, Ash and the purple haired boy were standing either side of the battlefield, ready for action. Brock was at the side, ready to referee the affair. Hugo and Dawn were standing behind him. **"This is great! I've never seen a real battle before!"** Dawn was excited. **"** **I probably have. Not that I remember it."** added Hugo.

" **The match will now begin between Ash and… uh..."** Began Brock.

" **It's Paul. Can we get this over with?"**

" **Right. The battle will now begin between Ash and Paul. It will be 3 on 3 with no substitutions. Ready?"**

The battle began. First Starly against Starly. Ash's was still very inexperienced, so Pikachu wasn't surprised when its teammate lost. Next up was Aipom versus Chimchar. Pikachu was worried it wasn't going to get to battle if Aipom lost but thankfully the Monkey Pokémon pulled off the win. Throughout the battle, Paul was shouting abuse and using foul language with every mistake his Pokémon made. Out of the corner of its eye, Pikachu could make out Hugo smiling at Paul. His expression was as though he was looking forward to humiliating him somehow. Was he planning something?

" **Pikachu, it's you and me. Ready?"** He didn't need to ask twice. Pikachu had been waiting to hear those words. It hadn't battled since its victory over Regice back in Kanto. Surely this Paul character couldn't possibly have anything close to Regice?

" **K, standby, Elekid!"** Paul cried. The Electric type appeared, ready for battle.

Pikachu couldn't have been more wrong. Elekid knew good moves: Protect, Thunder Punch and Brick Break. The battle ended with Pikachu falling, unable to continue. A second later, Elekid did the same.

" **We have a tie! Both sides are unable to battle!"** Cried Brock.

Ash picked up his fainted companion in his arms. **"Pikachu..."**

" **That sure looked like a draw to me."** Brock tried to cheer him up.

" **Well not me. Pikachu was the first to go down. We lost. Isn't that right?"**

 **"It was called at a tie. A tie it is."** Paul's tone of voice was cold.

He then proceeded to toss a Pokéball in the air, releasing his Starly back into the wild.

" **What'd you do that for?!"** Ash fumed.

 **"There's a million Starly's as strong as that one."** Paul snorted. That was the last straw. Pikachu was about to go berserk. Starly WON its battle.

Hugo finally walked over to Paul. He stood close to him. Pikachu almost laughed at the height difference between the two. Paul looked like a dwarf in comparison. **"So, you're the type who couldn't care less about anyone but himself, aye?"** Hugo asked calmly.

" **What's it to ya?"** Paul remarked.

" **Battle me."** Hugo demanded.

Paul laughed. He'd seen what happened yesterday when Hugo couldn't even figure out which moves Shinx knew. **"Why bother?** **It would be a waste of my time."**

Pikachu knew Paul was the type who could easily be taunted, and so did Hugo apparently.

" **Scared, huh?"**

" **What was that?"** Paul demanded an answer.

" **You're scared of losing to** **an inexperienced battler like me, aren't you?"** Somehow, Pikachu got the feeling he had plenty of experience before he lost his memory, but Paul didn't need to know that.

Without another word, Paul walked over and took his place at the opposite end of the Battlefield.

 **"Let's get this over with."** He sighed.

" **I'll be the referee again. This time it's a one on one battle."** Brock yelled. Behind him, Ash was looking pleased that his new friend was trying to back him up.

 **"Torterra, stand by for battle!"** Paul launched the Pokéball containing his fully evolved starter.

 **"Shinx, let's do this!"** Hugo launched his partner from its brand new Pokéball.

Pikachu hated Ground types. It stood at the sideline cheering Shinx with all its remaining energy.

" **Earthquake!"** Paul commanded. The ground began to shake as the super-effective move dealt damage to Shinx.

" **Counter with Crunch!"** Hugo yelled. Like earlier though, Shinx seemed to try its best, but couldn't figure out how to use the move.

" **Is this some kind of joke? Ordering it to use moves it doesn't even know?"** Paul retorted.

Pikachu felt sorry for Shinx. It didn't seem to know any moves at all.

 **"Come on buddy. We'll find a move you know, just wait and see."** Hugo reassured his partner.

On the sidelines, Dawn turned to Brock. **"We can't let it go on like this. He needs to throw in the towel. "You're right."** Replied Brock. Just then he was about to say something to Shinx, who was now taking damage from a Razor Leaf.

" **No."** A voice called out. It was Ash. **"Let him carry on. He's got that look in his eyes."** Pikachu looked over at Hugo and saw it too. He had the same look in his eyes that Pikachu had seen on Ash's face many times, including when he took down Regice, and when his Charizard defeated Articuno a while back.

" **Torterra! Let's just get this over with! Use Frenzy Plant!"** Pikachu was sure Shinx wouldn't survive this hit. It was already looking beaten up and Frenzy plant was a powerful move.

" **Shinx!"** Hugo cried out. **"Don't give up!"**

At that moment, it was like something was triggered within Shinx. Confidence grew on its face, it stood up straight on its four legs, facing the incoming Frenzy plant head on. Just as the move was about to make contact it opened its mouth.

" **SHIIIIIIIIIIIINX!"** It cried as a large stream of flames left its mouth. The flames incinerated the Frenzy plant instantly. But they didn't stop there. They headed straight for Torterra, hitting it directly, causing massive damage. It was super-effective. Smoke engulfed the battlefield. When it cleared, Shinx was standing proud, a big grin on its face. Torterra on the other hand was laid on its side, swirly eyes on its face.

Pikachu was stunned. Flamethrower? Shinx knew Flamethrower?!

" **T-t-Torterra i-is unable t-to battle. The winner is Shinx!"** announced a shocked Brock. So much for nothing fasing him any more. He turned to Hugo. **"Shinx can't learn Flamethrower. What's going on?"** Hugo shrugged as his partner leaped into his arms, looking very pleased with itself. **"Whatever you just did, great job buddy."** He smiled.

At the other side of the battlefield Paul was stunned. **"That move shouldn't have been legal. You cheated! I should have won that battle!"** He growled. His face was red. This might have been from anger but Pikachu thought it was also from embarrassment. He stormed off without another word.

Ash was the first to snap out of his surprised state and congratulate his new friend. **"That was a great battle, Hugo. Me and you should have a battle sometime."** Hugo nodded in agreement.

Pikachu felt a little nervous. After what it just saw, if it ever had to battle Shinx it sure wasn't looking forward to it.

* * *

 **So there it is. Another chapter, another group of questions to ask. Why can't Shinx learn normal moves? And how did it know Flamethrower, a move not normally learned by the Shinx evolution line? Also, what are its other moves? When will we find out? What other Pokémon will join Hugo's team? Will he find his old Kabutops and will he discover more secrets about his past?**

 **You'll find out the answer to all these questions if you keep on reading. Join me next time for Chapter 4, which, unlike the previous 3 chapters, will not be based on the next episode of the Anime.  
**

 **I'm trying to reflect every character's personality from the Anime.** **(Like with Team Rocket and their subtle 4th wall breaks.) Therefore, unlike many Fanfics I've read in the past, this story won't contain a "smarter" Ash or "more serious" Team Rocket. If this bothers you, I apologise. Ash is as dense as always in this story, and his denseness will become even more obvious in the next chapter.  
**

 **As always, thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated. I have the storyline all planned out but I'm open to suggestions on which other character's POV to write from.**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Starly, Aipom, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Bonsly**

 **Dawn – Piplup**

 **Hugo** \- **Shinx**


	4. Night At The Museum

**I don't own Pokémon. (If I did, Dawn and Brock would still be in the anime.)**

* * *

Several days had passed since Hugo's victory over Paul. Since then, quite a lot had happened. He'd watched Ash and Dawn participate in their first official contest. Some ginger girl ended up beating them both and then went on to win the final, beating some woman who looked a lot like Jessie from Team Rocket. During Dawn's semi-final match Ash and Brock were cheering her on passionately. Hugo heard another audience member make a remark along the lines of **"Wow, that girl has all the guys screaming for her."** Not wanting to make things worse, he decided to keep quiet. He still didn't fully understand these contests anyway, and for sure he didn't understand what an affordinator was.

Presently, the gang had just arrived in Oreburgh City where Ash's first Gym battle would take place. Ash, Brock and Dawn had all caught new Pokémon recently, which made Hugo feel left out. He still only had his Shinx.

Since his encounter with Paul, Hugo and Shinx had been training every morning. Partly to try to maintain his muscular figure he'd obtained before his memory loss, and partly to try and figure out which other moves Shinx could use. Its Flamethrower was still looking good but they were unsuccessful at using any other moves. Training felt really natural to Hugo. He enjoyed a good workout.

A voice snapped Hugo out of his thoughts. **"** **Nurse Joy, my friends need a room for the night. But what I really need is for you to embrace my undying love and affection towards you."** Brock grabbed Nurse Joy's hand, until he fell to the ground in pain. His new Croagunk had hit him in the back with Poison Jab. The Nurse smiled. **"** **Certainly. We only have two rooms left though and each only accommodates two guests."** Hugo and Brock were at the desk of the Pokémon centre while Ash and Dawn were outside practising for their next gym battle and contest respectively.

" **That's no problem. Hugo, how about me and you share a room? We'll give the other room key to Ash and Dawn."** How had Brock recovered so quickly? Hugo shrugged off that thought and nodded in agreement. He liked all his new friends so he was happy to share a room with any of them.

A little later, Hugo and Brock were in their room, preparing their beds for the night. Hugo sighed. They both had a small single bed. Not really a problem for most people, except Hugo had learned over the last few days that he was one of the tallest people in Sinnoh, and no bed was ever long enough to fit his poor legs. Just when he was looking forward to a nice rest too.

" **Um… guys?"** Dawn poked her head into their room. **"Slight problem."** **S** he was blushing somewhat, gesturing for them to follow her. They followed her into her and Ash's room and Hugo was amused by what he saw.

Unlike Hugo's room, this room only had one double bed. Which Ash and Dawn would have to share! Hugo felt an overwhelming urge to burst into laughter. He barely managed to hold it back, which is more than Pikachu could manage. It was rolling around on the bed laughing at the situation, with a puzzled looking Ash stood over it scratching his head. **"I don't get it. What's so funny?"** Hugo slapped his own face with his palm. Dawn had helped him out too many times. He needed to help her out of this awkward situation. He was about to ask her if she wanted to swap rooms. He'd sleep on the floor, at least his legs would fit. As Dawn often said, no need to worry.

Suddenly though, screams and angry yelling could be heard from outside the Pokémon centre. The gang all dashed to the balcony of their room.

There was a giant robot, complete with at least 10 mechanical arms. The arms had smashed a hole in the nearby Oreburgh museum, and were grabbing both fossils and Pokémon from within. The gang had heard of the 'special environment' within the museum which was home to many prehistoric Pokémon. Among the Pokémon were Aerodactyl, Cranidos and Shieldon. Hugo's eyes widened when he saw the next Pokémon to be grabbed. It was a Kabutops. Hugo remembered that he was looking for a Kabutops. He got his hopes up slightly, but deep down he knew this couldn't be the same one. This one must have been recently restored from a fossil, the museum only housed Pokémon that had been recently restored.

" **Stop this right now! Who are you thieves?!"** Officer Jenny bellowed through a Megaphone.

Hugo could have bet his entire life savings what was coming next. Not that he had any life savings.

From within the top section of the robot through a window Hugo could see the three goons standing up from their seats. Jessie, James and Meowth frantically grabbed some sheets of paper, scribbling things down and crossing things out.

" **Quickly! Time to unveil our newly rewritten motto."** James whispered to his teammates.

A moment of awkward silence passed, until Team Rocket were finally ready.

 **"Listen! Is that an amplified voice I hear?"**

" **It's speaking to me loud and clear!"**

" **Floating on the wind!"**

 **"Past the stars!"**

" **In your ear"!**

" **Stealing fossils at a breakneck pace!"**

" **Dashing hope putting fear in its place!"**

" **A rose by any other name's just as sweet!"**

 **"When everything's worse our work is complete!"**

" **Jessie!"**

 **"James!"**

" **Meowth, that's a name!"**

" **Putting the do-gooders in their place!"**

" **We're Team Rocket, and we're in your face!"**

" **Woooooobuffet!"**

" **Mime Mime Mime!"**

The trio stood with their hands on their hips, looking very proud of their new motto.

 **"So what do you think? I had to sacrifice some of my beauty sleep staying up to write it."**

" **Yeah right! You didn't do a thing! it was me who did all the rewriting!"** Meowth stated angrily.

" **Actually I believe it was I who was the genius behind the new motto."** James chimed in.

" **Oh yeah? We'll see how much of a genius you are when you get a taste of my Fury Swipes attack!"** Meowth launched himself at James.

" **Stop this right now! You two are just in denial about who the true genius here is, which is none other than** **yours truly** **."** Jessie twirled around as she spoke, trying to show off.

" **Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"** The three villains halted their quarrelling to turn around, only to see Ash's Pikachu riding atop his Staravia. While the trio had been arguing they'd been able to sneak up on them. Despite their blunder, Team Rocket didn't seem too concerned. **"Hahahahaha! You really think a measly Thunderbolt will bother this bad boy?"** Meowth patted his robot creation. Despite his confidence, the Thunderbolt dealt a noticeable amount of damage, knocking off one of the robot's arms.

" **I thought you got said you'd make it resistant to Electric attack with super high-quality material!"** Jessie was mad at Meowth.

" **How can I afford high quality stuff when we blow half our budget on make-up and outfits for your conte-"** Jessie quickly put her hand over Meowth's mouth. **"Shhhh! They'll discover my secret."** Hugo wondered what their secret was, but he quickly decided that he didn't care too much.

" **Piplup! Bubblebeam!"** Dawn commanded, although the machine was too far away from their balcony, and the bubbles didn't have enough range to reach. Dawn looked disappointed. Just then, Hugo noticed something. The container consisting of all the stolen Pokémon was full. Why did Team Rocket make it so small? With their track record, Hugo assumed they didn't expect to get this far. One of the robot's arms was holding a struggling Cranidos. The arm had nowhere to put the Pokémon it had grabbed, so it was just holding it. The Cranidos didn't seem to have the intelligence to realise that if it broke free it had a long way to fall to the ground below.

Hugo had an idea. It was probably the worst idea in the history of the Pokémon world, but it was all he had so he went with it. He leaped over the barrier at the end of the balcony, much to Dawn and Brock's surprise. He grabbed the bottom of Staravia's legs who had flown back towards the balcony, ready for another of Ash's commands. Staravia couldn't support Hugo's weight, so it flapped about frantically, but flew a few metres forwards as it was slowly falling. Perfect. He let go of the Flying Pokémon's legs, landing on top of one of Piplup's bubbles from its earlier Bubblebeam. Bubbles created by Pokémon are much harder to pop than regular bubbles, but it still couldn't support his weight for more than a fraction of a second. As it popped, though, Hugo leaped onto another bubble slightly lower than the previous one. Many of the bubbles were falling towards the ground, so Hugo was able to use them like stairs, gradually getting lower. However, he was still easily 15 feet or more in the air when he realised he'd run out of bubbles to jump to. As the last one popped he fell. Dawn gasped, she turned towards Brock who was shaking his head at his friend's foolishness. He was much more used to this sort of behaviour than Dawn, having been Ash's companion for the last 4 years. Ash, however, was in the zone. Way too focused on his battle with Team Rocket's robot. He didn't even notice what Hugo had done.

Hugo landed awkwardly on his foot. It hurt. He tried to run towards Cranidos, but the best he could manage was a limp. As he feared, Cranidos broke free of the mechanical arm's grasp, hurtling towards the ground. Hugo probably would've been able to get there in time if it weren't for the pain in his foot. He wasn't going to catch Cranidos in time.

Just as things seemed hopeless, a loud noise could be heard in the distance, like flowing water. It was getting closer rapidly. Hugo turned to see a large wave moving towards Cranidos. There was a Pokémon on top of the wave. Clearly, it was using Surf. This Pokémon was like a brown Shellfish, with long sharp claws. Could it be…?

Cranidos landed on the wave. It was weak to water type moves so it probably hurt a bit, but it was being carried with the current which was much better than if it had simply plummeted to the ground.

The wave didn't stop there. It continued, picking up pace.

The powerful wave collided head on with the Team Rocket's robot. The machine couldn't take any more.

 **"Is it just me, or are you getting that pre-blast off feeling?"** James asked his teammates nervously.

" **O** **ne thing's for sure. This thing's gonna blow!"** Meowth yelled.

Right on cue, the robot blew up. All the captured Pokémon fell into the wave below. The ones that were weak against water moves cried out at the discomfort it caused them, but they weren't being hit head-on by the attack so the damage they received was only small.

Meanwhile, three figures were launched high into the air.

 **"We're blasting off again!"** The trio cried as they disappeared into the distance.

" **Hugo! Are you alright? That was some stunt."** A voice called out from behind. It was Brock. He, Ash and Dawn had made their way outside during all the commotion.

" **I'm fine, thanks. Just a little pain in my foot, that's all."**

" **Don't you dare pull off another crazy stunt like that again!"** Dawn warned.

" **Yeah, that's usually my job."** Ash laughed.

Just then, loud footsteps could be heard from behind. It sounded like a Rock type stepping on the rocky pavement.

Hugo turned. In the distance, he saw Officer Jenny along with some scientists from the museum. They were making sure all the fossils and prehistoric Pokémon were okay. They were all dripping wet but none of the Pokémon looked particularly hurt, much to Hugo's relief. Upon noticing her, Brock's eyes were covered in hearts, and he dashed towards her, squealing in a high pitch. **"Officer, these prehistoric Pok** **é** **mon may be strong, but their strength is nothing compared to the strength of my love for..."** He couldn't finish his sentence due to a certain Croagunk's Poison Jab.

His attention was turned towards the Pokémon walking towards him though. It wasn't the type of Pokémon that would cry out its name, yet it appeared like it wanted to communicate with Hugo. Hugo flinched. He stared in silence for a moment, then at last managed to speak.

" **Kabutops..."**

* * *

 **Thanks for the support guys. The early chapter should keep coming out pretty quickly. Can't promise I'll keep that up though. :)**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Staravia, Aipom, Turtwig, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Dawn – Buneary, Piplup**

 **Hugo – Shinx**


	5. Surf's Up!

**A brand new chapter! The longest yet, with just over 3000 words. Once again, not based on any particular anime episode. Probably worth noting: Any vertical line represents a time skip/scene change.  
**

 **I do not own Pok** **é** **mon.**

* * *

" **Shinx! Let's do this!"** Those were the first words Shinx heard as it was released from its Pokéball which had been comfortably encapsulating it.

Taking a moment to look around, Shinx quickly realised what the situation was. This was an essential skill for all Pokémon with a trainer, except for Ash's Pikachu of course. They would often be expected to know what was going on within seconds of being sent out.

Behind Shinx stood its trainer, Hugo, with the rest of the gang; Ash, Dawn, Brock, Piplup and Pikachu were all there. What was more important, though, was the figure standing in front. A brown shellfish Pokémon with long sharp claws. Shinx knew that battling it could only mean one thing: this was the one they'd been searching for.

Even if it had previously belonged to Hugo, it clearly wanted to battle in order to be recaptured. Was it angry at its former trainer, or just wanted to battle Shinx for old time's sake?

Shinx didn't have time to ponder this thought, however, as the opposing Pokémon launched itself forward with its sharp claws. It was using Slash. Shinx had been working on its speed with Hugo ever since they'd lost their memory so it was pleased with itself when it successfully dodged the attack by swiftly jumping to the side.

" **Unless you can figure something out, I can only see this battle ending one way."** Brock's voice called from behind. Shinx immediately realised what he meant. So far, the only move Shinx had managed to use was Flamethrower. Just their luck that Kabutops was a Rock AND Water type, making it 4X resistant to Fire type attacks.

Kabutops then summoned some rocks out of nowhere which appeared to float in the air momentarily.

" **That's Ancient Power!"** Ash identified the move thanks to all his experience of battling.

This time, Shinx couldn't get out of the way in time. It was sent flying backwards. That move hurt. Even though it wasn't super-effective, it was more painful than that Earthquake attack from Paul's Torterra. This was one strong Pokémon.

Shinx found the strength to get back to its feet. It turned towards its trainer, frowning. He had a surprisingly cheerful expression despite how he must have known there was no point in commanding a Flamethrower attack. At best it might tickle Kabutops. **"Just do what you can buddy. I believe in you."** These words of inspiration motivated Shinx. It concentrated as hard as it could.

" **Look out!"** Ash and Dawn called together. Shinx could hear the sound of rushing water moving towards it, but it was too busy concentrating. Dark clouds began to gather above. The 'battlefield' got darker. That was, until a flash of light appeared. The Thunder attack hit Kabutops directly. The Pokémon was still stood atop the wave heading for Shinx. While it was being electrocuted, Kabutops appeared to be in a lot of discomfort. Its wave grew smaller and smaller, disappearing completely before it reached Shinx. The clouds from above disappeared just as quickly as they'd appeared. **"Pika Pi!"** The observing Electric Mouse Pokémon sounded impressed that its friend had finally pulled off an Electric-type attack. Shinx looked back at Kabutops to see that it was still standing, glaring at its four-legged foe. Shinx began to concentrate again. It would just have to hit it with another Thunder attack.

" **That's enough!"** Hugo's voice called out. He calmly walked over to Kabutops. **"Hey there, I hope you enjoyed that."** The Pokémon nodded slowly. **"Whatever my reasons were for leaving you, I'm really sorry. But now** **that** **we're back together I'm pretty sure there's nothing stopping us from becoming a team again."** He smiled at Shinx, then looked back at the pre-historic Pokémon. Kabutops stood still for a moment. It had a silent conversation with its former trainer. Hugo smiled again and nodded. At that moment, Kabutops slashed a Pokéball from his belt. (As a trainer, it was standard to carry around a belt with 6 Pokémon even if nothing was in most of them.) It did so with such accuracy that it didn't even scratch Hugo, who stood still allowing it to do so. He'd put his complete trust in it even though he'd just re-met it 10 minutes ago. Shinx got a feeling their bond used to be strong.

The knocked down Pokéball opened up as it hit the ground. A red light appeared from within which engulfed Kabutops, causing it to transform into energy and move inside. The ball wriggled back and forth for a few seconds before it made a loud 'Ping!'

" **Hey Ash, can you teach me that pose?"** Ash smiled as he walked over. **"** **Sure. Watch me."**

" **I caught… Kabutops!"** Ash pulled off his trademark pose as Pikachu jumped off his shoulder into the air with an ecstatic expression. Hugo imitated the pose but Shinx didn't want to join in. There were too many people around and it was too shy. Piplup had it covered though. The Penguin Pokémon quickly leaped onto Hugo's shoulder then into the air, raising a flipper triumphantly. Dawn giggled at her partner. **"** **Pip pip lup!"** The Pokémon proudly cried.

* * *

Shinx felt overwhelming fear. Two figures loomed over it. On the right was a black and blue Pokémon with a sort of black mane, large yellow ears, a long black tail with a yellow star on the end, and yellow stripes along the front two of its four legs. The Pokémon was firing electrical attacks in all directions. The figure on the left was a tall male human with an evil looking smirk on his face. Darkness seemed to cover his body despite the bright sparks emitting from his partner which Shinx identified as a Luxio, Shinx's evolved form. Shinx felt a chill through its body. That Human looked an awful lot like…Hugo! In fact, it was him, wasn't it? **"Finish this Lux** **io** **!"** He commanded, pointing straight at Shinx. It closed its eyes in fear as Luxio pounced towards it.

Shinx leaped out of its Pokéball, awakening from its nightmare. At the same time, Hugo sat up very quickly in his long sleeping bag on the floor of the Pokémon centre's guest room. They both stared at each other for a moment. **"Hey buddy, had the same dream?"** He whispered. He looked happy just to see his Electric partner unharmed. Shinx wondered why its trainer was always so calm. It was about to cry out and express its concern until it heard snoring. Ash was sprawled out on the double bed with Pikachu beside him. Shinx instantly felt sorry for its trainer. With all that noise, he'd probably not slept much. At least Shinx was away from all that racket inside its Pokéball.

Hugo quietly got dressed, doing his best not to disturb his room-mate, although Shinx though he might as well have been practising singing with a Loudred. Nothing was waking Ash up any time soon. They made their way outside. The sun was beginning to rise. Hugo and Shinx went for a jog around the entire city. When they were done, he asked Shinx to wait there and went back inside to his room. He emerged a minute later and summoned Kabutops from its Pokéball. He pulled out two surf boards. One was regular size, the other was much smaller. They walked over to a nearby field with lots of space, then he placed the normal one in front of himself and the smaller one in front of Shinx. Kabutops seemed to understand what to do and positioned itself behind them, ready to begin.

Hugo turned towards Shinx and grinned. **"It took a while last night to find a Shinx-sized surfboard. I don't think Luxio-size even exists so you better not evolve any time soon."** He laughed at his own joke, until rushing water could be heard from behind. **"3...2...1...** **now!"** Hugo laid down and began paddling with his arms. Shinx paddled with its front legs. When they got up to speed, they both just about managed to stand up...for a whole second! In perfect sync, trainer and Pokémon both fell off their new surfboards, being carried by the wave for a few seconds until it stopped. When Kabutops saw the pair sprawled out on the floor, Shinx thought that if it had hands it would definitely have face-palmed. Hugo burst into laughter. **"I think we need a bit more practise."**

* * *

A short time later, Hugo and co. were on their way from the Pokémon centre to the Oreburgh Gym, which was at the opposite side of the city. Shinx, Piplup and Pikachu were all sat upon their trainer's shoulders. Suddenly, the group were approached by three interesting individuals. There was a blue haired man, a pink haired woman and a third person who was of very short stature. All three were wearing bright red suits that looked very smart along with a black top-hat.

" **My oh my. You can't seriously expect to be allowed to challenge the gym with your Pokémon in such a state."** Began the woman.

 **"Huh? What are you talking about?"** Ash looked puzzled.

" **You don't know? The gym here in Oreburgh doesn't allow just any old Pokémon to challenge them. It first has to go through a special check-up to see if it's ready. And by the looks of it, your Pikachu is unfit to fight."** She responded.

" **And how would YOU know?"** Dawn was suspicious.

" **Well, as you can see, we are official representatives of the Sinnoh gym committee."** The man explained. They each showed their fancy looking badge attached to their suits.

" **It does have the official Pokémon league logo."** Brock decided upon close inspection.

" **Of course. One-hundred percent legitimate and not at all forged."** The woman grinned.

 **"So what's this** **special check-up?"** Ash questioned.

" **It's simple. You give us your Pikachu along with your other Pokémon and we make sure they meet the minimum hygiene and dental standards as well as ensuring it isn't unwell or injured."** Stated the man. **"We don't want unwell Pokémon taking on the gym now do we?** **They could spread their illness to the rest of the Pok** **é** **mon.** **"**

" **But Pikachu is perfectly healthy-"** Began Ash.

" **Thanks a bunch. We'll be done in a jiffy.** **Ta-ta for now.** **"** The woman exclaimed as the trio grabbed Pikachu and the rest of Ash's Pokéballs before dashing towards a nearby building.

" **Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"** Dawn asked Brock.

" **Yeah! something's not right about those three."** Brock answered. **"Let's follow them!"**

The gang went in the same direction that the three smartly dressed characters had just gone. They arrived at a suspicious looking building with a sign on top saying 'SINO GYM COMITEE'. Shinx wasn't great at reading human language but it was pretty sure the sign didn't even have correct spelling.

Hugo walked over to the building, examined it for a moment, then pushed against the wall. The building toppled over. At least it looked that way at first, but then it became clear that it was only a cardboard cut-out. When it landed Shinx saw the three smartly dressed people stashing Pokéballs into a bag, with a caged Pikachu beside them.

" **That's enough! Who are you guys?!"** Ash called out.

The three weirdos looked surprised at their cover being blown, then they composed themselves and each formed a smirk upon their face.

" **Is that a deceived voice I hear?"**

 **"Seems we've tricked you again, that much is clear."**

" **On the wind!"**

 **"Past the stars!"**

" **In your ear!"** The trio threw off their disguises, revealing their true identities.

" **Imitating officials at a breakneck pace!"**

" **In a contest of brains, you'd earn last place!"**

" **If your brains were any smaller they'd cease to exist!"**

" **We fool you as easily as a flick of the wrist!"**

" **Jessie!"**

" **James!"**

" **Meowth, now that's a name!"**

" **Putting the do-gooders in their place!"**

" **We're Team Rocket, and we're in your face!"**

" **Woooooooooobuffet!"**

" **Mime Mime Mime!"**

" **You guys again! I've had just about enough of you!"** Dawn yelled angrily. **"Piplup, use Bubblebeam!"**

" **Piiiip Lup Lup Lup!"** Piplup launched an onslaught of bubbles.

 **"Sudowoodo! Help out with Hammer Arm!"** Brock launched his Pokéball.

 **"Why do you always have to act like such twerps?! Cacnea old chum!** **Come out and use** **Pin Missile!"** James also launched a Pokéball. But rather than attacking, Cacnea turned straight around and gave James a painful hug. **"Should've...seen that coming!"** James was struggling to breathe.

Jessie looked determined. **"Wobbufet! Use Mirror Mirror Coat and reflect the Twerpette's attack!"** Wobbufet reflected Piplup's bubbles straight at Sudowoodo before it got the chance to attack. Cacnea's Pin Missile then hit Sudowoodo hard. The tree Pokémon couldn't cope with the two super-effective moves hitting it and fell to the ground with swirly eyes.

Team Rocket appeared to have a slight edge, although Shinx was sure that would soon change. It wondered if Hugo was going to bother trying to help. Then it remembered something: They still needed Meowth's help! If they could ask him to translate for them then maybe he could tell them what Kabutops knows, and Shinx could tell Hugo about that thing it remembers...

" **Shinx Shinx Shinx!"** Shinx jumped up and down frantically.

 **"I can't speak Pokémon, but I hope you're thinking what I'm thinking buddy."** Shinx nodded excitedly.

" **Kabutops! Let's do this!"** Hugo launched the Pokéball containing his other Pokémon. **"Remember what we practised?"** He pulled out the two surf boards.

" **What are you doing? We could use some help here!"** Dawn yelled at them. She was still battling with Piplup while Brock had now called out his Croagunk. Meanwhile, Ash had snuck up to Pikachu's cage and was about to release it. Typical Ash. Team Rocket would probably blast off soon so Hugo and Shinx needed to hurry. **"** **No need to worry, top galordinator."** Hugo teased. **"Ash has got this covered."** She glared at him. **"How many times? It's coordinator! C-o-o-oof."** She was interrupted by Piplup being launched into her stomach. It had been hit by Cacnea's Needle Arm. She barely managed to stay on her feet.

Meanwhile, Kabutops summoned its usual wave and they paddled on their surf boards just like earlier. They were still bad at surfing but they both kept they only needed to keep their balance for a short time since they weren't travelling far. **"Now!"** Hugo commanded Shinx to jump from the wave to Meowth. The Cat Pokémon didn't see what was coming. Shinx didn't technically know the move Body Slam but it managed to use its full body weight to knock Meowth out of the way. The wave engulfed Jessie, James, Wobuffet and Cacnea. Hugo jumped off his surfboard and landed in front of Meowth, who was struggling back to his feet. **"** **What's up with you mugs?"** Meowth asked arrogantly. **"We need your help."** He began to explain.

" **STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL** **S** **!"** A voice boomed from behind. Shinx turned. Kabutops's wave had gone now and Jessie, James and their Pokémon were getting back to their feet, dripping wet. Officer Jenny ran over to the scene. Shinx noticed Brock fighting the urge to begin flirting, but the breeder must have known now wasn't a good time. Not that it would have gone well for him anyway.

Was this it? Would Team Rocket finally be arrested after all these years of pursuing Ash?

To everyone's surprise, Officer Jenny's angry glare didn't seem to be directed at the goofy goons. She stomped straight past them, pinned Hugo against a nearby tree and cuffed his hands together. **"YOU! You're under arrest for theft, disruption and causing injury to others!"** She was absolutely furious. Her assistant Growlithe ran up to Shinx, standing close enough for Shinx to feel its breath. It had a ferocious glare.

" **M-me?"** Hugo couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes you, this is you, right?" Officer Jenny shoved a sheet of paper practically in his face. Shinx did its best to read the human language written on the sheet. 'WANTED: For crimes against the general public.' Above the writing was a picture of a young man and his Pokémon. Shinx's eyes widened. The Pokémon in the picture was a Shinx! Shinx had seen itself in a mirror once or twice, and the one in the picture certainly looked younger. Could that be Shinx's past self? The one in the picture wore a menacing grin on its face. But even more surprising was the person in the photo. He also had an evil looking grin on his face, which just like in Shinx's dream seemed to be concealed by darkness. The darkness made it sort of difficult to make out facial features, but the person in the photo appeared to be none other than Hugo! Shinx noticed Team Rocket beginning to sneak away with Ash's Pokémon, but it was too stunned to move. There were so many questions to ask.

Surely a life of crime wasn't the story behind Hugo's past?

* * *

 **What's that you say? It's impossible to "jump" off a Surfboard while surfing? Maybe so, but this is the world of the anime, and therefore anime physics apply!**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry about my overuse of cliffhangers, but that's just my style ;) It took a lot of planning to get this chapter right. Adjusting Team Rocket's motto to fit the situation is harder than it looks! And we now know half of Shinx's unusual moveset: Flamethrower and Thunder.**

 **Chapter 6 preview:**

 **Are Hugo and Shinx really criminals? And how will Ash, Brock and Dawn react if it turns out they are? Will Team Rocket finally steal Pikachu? (Come on, you know the answer to that one already!)**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Staravia, Aipom, Turtwig, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Dawn – Buneary, Piplup**

 **Hugo – Kabutops, Shinx**


	6. A Picture From The Past?

**This chapter is kind of, very loosely based on the episode "A Secret Sphere Of Influence" although that one technically took place in Eterna city when Ash had already won his first badge. In that episode, the character Nando was suspected to be a criminal but was of course proven innocent in the end. Will Hugo share the same fate or will this plot take a different route? And here's something I bet you weren't expecting: This chapter follows the POV of none other than everyone's favourite talking Meowth!**

* * *

" **Dis is our chance!"** Meowth called out as he sprinted over to his partners in crime. The twerps were all distracted and they still had a bag of stolen pokéballs in their possession.

Jessie, James and Meowth clumsily ran towards their hot air balloon, stumbling over everything they could on their way. However, they failed to remember to bring the cage containing Pikachu, and also failed to notice its trainer freeing it.

" **Pikachu, Iron Tail quick!"** Ash commanded the instant he'd set Pikachu free.

" **Pika Pika!"** Pikachu slammed its tail at the bag of pokéballs in the hands of Jessie and James, knocking all of them out of the bag and causing them to roll across the ground towards Ash before stopping at his feet. **"** **Hey, give those back! We stole those fair and square!"** Jessie yelled angrily.

" **Now's not a good time. Pikachu,** **Thunderbolt."** Ash ordered unenthusiastically. He wasn't even looking at Team Rocket. The electric mouse was still eager for revenge though and whatever enthusiasm its trainer lacked, Pikachu made up for. **"Pikachuuuuuuuu!"** It cried as it launched a powerful Thunderbolt.

" **Waaaaaah!"** Jessie, James and Mime Jr huddled together, staring in fear at the incoming electric type move. Wobbuffet stood in front and attempted to reflect the attack, but was unsuccessful and instead took the full force of the attack before it was launched through the air straight into the blue and pink haired crooks. Meowth, however, was still several metres behind due to being cut off by Hugo moments earlier, and therefore wasn't hit by any flying Wobbuffets.

The rest of Team Rocket were launched high into the air. **"We're blasting off again!"** Jessie and James screamed as they disappeared into the distance. Meowth stared up at his partners wondering where they were going to land this time, but he quickly realised he was still with the twerps. Before any of them could notice that he'd missed his flight, he hid behind a tree. **"What's up with dose twerps today?"** He asked himself quietly.

Closest to Meowth was the twerp, Ash, with that Pikachu they'd sought after for so many years. Ash was picking up his pokéballs with Pikachu on his shoulder, but they both appeared distracted by something. The twerpette and older twerp, or rather Dawn and Brock, were just behind Officer Jenny and her Growlithe. Pinned up against a tree was the taller twerp, Hugo. His hands were now in a handcuff and he wore a devastated expression on his face.

" **Let me see that!"** was the first sentence Meowth overheard. Brock marched over to the policewoman, resisting his urge to flirt, and grabbed a sheet of paper. Unlike pretty much every other Pokémon in existence, Meowth could actually read human writing. 'WANTED: For crimes against the general public.' Meowth couldn't see the image on the poster very well from such a distance, but the picture did appear to be of the very same twerp with a Shinx.

Brock held the poster in both hands, no hint of any reaction on his face. He was speechless. Ash and Dawn walked over and stared at the poster. Nobody spoke for a while. Meanwhile, Jenny's partners, Growlithe and Stunky, had Hugo's Shinx and Kabutops backed against the same large tree as their trainer.

Eventually, Jenny broke the silence. **"I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me down to the station along with your criminal Pokémon."** Hugo looked sad. He though for a moment until he responded. **"Can you at least allow my Kabutops to go free? There's no evidence that it's committed any crime."** Jenny shook her head. **"I'm sorry, no can do. What if I were to let it go free and it attacked me in an attempt to free its trainer?"** Upon hearing that argument, Hugo's head dropped. He stared at the floor as he and his Pokémon began to be escorted down the path towards the station. A few passers-by tried to get a closer look at what was going on, but Jenny's assistant officers were turning everyone away from the scene.

Dawn couldn't take it any more. She spoke up. **"There has to be a mistake! I've been with Hugo every day since he lost his memory and there's no way** **he'** **d ever even think of comitting such crimes!** **He's not like that at all!** **"** Meowth was wondering what she was talking about.

Jenny paused for a moment before asking **"What's this losing** **about** **your memory?"**

 **"You see, Hugo's been travelling with us to try to discover his past, since he doesn't remember who he is."** Ash explained. **"He's never done anything to harm any people or Pokémon."** He seemed to be having more and more trouble believing his friend would do such things. **"Besides, how do you know for sure that's the same guy on the picture? It could just be someone who looks like him."**

" **Typical of the twerp to play the hero."** Meowth muttered to himself, still hidden behind a nearby tree. He was still stunned. Until now, he had no idea about the whole memory loss thing.

Jenny wasn't convinced at all. "You expect me to believe that there just happens to be a person who is identical in appearance and just happens to also have a Shinx as its partner?"

 **"I know it sounds silly but you've just got to believe me! I know he's innocent I can just feel it!"**

Ash was dense when it came to girls, or politics, or fashion, and quite a few other things too. But if there was one thing the guy was good at it was making friends, and he'd made a friend in Hugo. His friends weren't bad people. He just couldn't accept that someone he'd befriended would be a bad person. Hugo managed a smile at his friend doing all he could to help him out.

 **"What's going on Meowth?"** A voice whispered from behind. It was Jessie, accompanied by James. **"How'd you mugs get back here so quick?"** Meowth questioned. **"A matter of experience."** James explained. They'd blasted off so much, they were now experts at returning quickly.

 **"Ok, so here's the juice. Apparently the tall twerp'** **s been having memory issues, now he's a wanted criminal and none of the twerps can figure out why."** Jessie and James were surprised. **"You mean all this time we've been fighting against him when he could've been on our side?"** Jessie asked.

" **W-well n-no not exactly..."** Meowth began to explain, waving his paws about signalling that she'd got the wrong idea. It was too late though. **"Well if that's the case,** **let's help him out and recruit him into Team Rocket!"** She exclaimed. **"N-no wait..."** Meowth began before giving up. She and James ran out from their hiding spot. Meowth followed reluctantly.

The twerps all noticed them at once as they weren't exactly quiet on their feet. **"Not you guys again!"** Jenny exclaimed.

" **Is that an agitated voice I hear?"**

" **It complains to me loud and clear!"**

" **On the wind!"**

" **Past the stars!"**

(Unenthusiastically) **"I don't wanna be here..."**

" **Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"**

" **Dashing hope putting fear in its place!"**

" **A rose by any other name is just as sweet!"  
**

" **When everything's worse our work is complete!"**

" **Jessie!"**

" **James!"**

 **"Meowth…this is lame..."**

" **Putting the do-gooders in their place!"**

" **We're Team Rocket… and we're in your face!"**

" **Woooooobbuffet!"**

" **You never told us you were a thief, twerp. How would you like to become Team Rocket's newest recruit?"** Jessie asked confidently.

" **I don't think you've got the right idea..."** Hugo responded in a miserable tone.

 **"Tell me about it."** Meowth agreed in an equally miserable tone.

Jessie and James turned to each other. **"Not interested, aye? Perhaps we can convince him otherwise?"** James asked curiously. **"Carnivine! We need your assistance!"** The Grass-type appeared from its pokéball, instantly turning around and taking a good chomp on James's poor head. **"** **Can't you chomp on someone else for a change?!"** James cried out.

" **Seviper! Help him out!"** The Snake Pokémon appeared. **"Viper!"** **"Now, use poison tail on Growlithe!" "Carnivine, use Vine Whip on Skorupi!"** The two Pokémon launched themselves forward.

" **We don't have time for this. Growlithe! Flamethrower!"** Jenny ordered. **"Grooowl!"** The Pokémon cried as it launched its stream of flames at the two Pokémon.

" **Wobbuf** **f** **et! Deflect it!"** Jessie wasn't smart enough to know whether to use Counter or Mirror Coat, but thankfully Wobbufet knew and deflected the flames with Mirror Coat. The flames hit Jenny's other Pokémon, Skorupi. Super effective! The Poison and Bug type fainted.

" **Grrr! Persistent crooks!"** Jenny snarled, returning Skorupi to its pokéball. **"All those blast off's can toughen up people and Pokémon alike."** James beamed happily.

Meanwhile, Ash, Dawn and Brock had walked over to Hugo, comforting him. **"Don't worry, we'll find a way to get you free."** Ash explained confidently. **"Pika pika!" "Piplup pip!"** Their Pokémon were just as confident. **"Thanks guys, but you heard her. If I've done those bad things, then I deserve to be locked up."** Hugo was still sad. **"Stop that right now! Don't you dare just give up! We don't even know exactly what bad things it is that you've done, or when you did them. They can't just lock you up for no reason!"** Dawn was angry at his lack of confidence. Hugo instantly forced a smile on his face. He'd seen Dawn angry before, and didn't want to be on the receiving end of such anger. **"You're right guys. Thanks."**

" **Stop that! Leave Officer Jenny alone!"** Her assistants ran over to Team Rocket. There were four of them in total. They each launched a pokéball, revealing their own Pokémon; Zubat, Staravia and two Bidoof. Meowth flinched. They had enough time dealing with the twerps when they used one or two Pokémon. They weren't used to facing four at once.

" **Jenny! You take them back to the station! We'll handle this!"** Jenny nodded in response to her assistant. **"Come on, let's go!"** She grabbed Hugo's arm and her Growlithe pushed its nose up against Kabutops's leg, indicating that it wanted it to start walking. Hugo frowned at his three friends, who didn't know what to do any more. None of them even had the motivation to battle against Team Rocket.

Just as things seemed hopeless, a very familiar voice called out **"Stop right there! There's been a mistake!"** Meowth glanced over at the source of the voice. It was none other than Officer Jenny. Although, it was a different Jenny. This one wasn't in uniform, but instead in casual clothing. She wore a pink cap, with a red jacket that had a Gyarados face on front. Instead of the usual blue shorts, she wore plain black trousers on her legs.

 **"Another Jenny!"** Ash and Dawn cried out. Brock had hearts over his eyes once again. This must have been torture for the poor guy. He couldn't resist this time.

" **I'm the Jenny from Viridian City. I came to visit on my day off and-"**  
 **  
"I know, and although our time and distance apart have both been long, not a day has gone by where I haven't though of you-"** That was all Brock had time to say. The next thing Meowth saw was a painful expression on the older twerp's face as his Croagunk dragged him away.

" **As I was saying, at Viridian City we also encountered those same crooks. We managed to get a picture of them which I happened to bring with me just in case you knew anything about it. Here it is!"**

Once again, Meowth was too far away to see the picture clearly, but he could make out that the picture was of the same person as the poster. He had the same facial expression as before. The only difference was the Pokémon beside him. This time, instead of a Shinx as his partner there was a Luxio!

" **This picture was taken roughly** **eight** **months ago."** Casual Jenny explained.

Brock leapt up, which made Meowth wonder how he'd recovered so fast, but he quickly shrugged off the thought. **"Isn't that around when we were in Viridian City too? You know, when you were taking on the Battle Frontier?"**

Ash's eyes lit up. **"That's right! Back when we were travelling with Max and May, and Misty was with us for a while too!"**

" **Ya know, come to think of it, I remember following them back through there around that time too!"** Meowth though out loud. **"** **We must've just missed that mug in the picture."**

" **You see, in this picture the suspect's Pokémon has evolved into a Luxio, and as you can see the suspect you have here still only has a Shinx. As far as I know, Pokémon can't devolve."** Casual Jenny explained.

" **That could easily be a different Luxio. What if he had more than one Shinx?"** Officer Jenny wasn't buying any of it.

" **Then how do you explain this?!"** Casual Jenny pulled something else out of her bag. It was a newspaper. Meowth was definitely too far away to make out what was written on it, but thankfully Ash read it aloud. **"Sinnoh news daily: A resident of** **Pastoria City** **became the fifth person this month to report that they were on the receiving end of an attack by a mysterious crook accompanied by a Luxio. According to his report, the crook's face was partly concealed in darkness while he launched an unprovoked attack at the traveller who was exploring a rural mountainside in search of rare Pokémon. The traveller was barely able to escape with only minor inuries to his Staraptor."**

" **The date! It's from today! That means it happened very recently!"** Dawn exclaimed. Officer Jenny finally looked convinced. **"Well, clearly based on this evidence, the suspect we have here is not the same person. He has no Luxio in his possession and couldn't possibly have travelled all the way here from** **Pastoria City** **in such a short time. I'm sorry to have caused you all of this trouble."** She finally released Hugo's handcuffs and returned her Growlithe to its pokéball, much to the relief of his Shinx who was really fed up of its intimidating glare.

" **What are you doing Meowth? You've been staring at those twerps for so long! Help us out already!"** Jessie was once again angry, this time at Meowth. This made him realise how long he'd been staring. **"Yeah, you haven't moved for half the chapter."** James added. Meowth noticed a tired looking Carnivine and Seviper. They were about to lose to the police's Pokémon. Meowth extended his claws and began to reluctantly move towards their foes. Of course, it was too late. The four opposing Pokémon all launched attacks at once, sending Carnivine and Seviper flying towards the Team Rocket trio. **"Why do I even bother?"** Meowth sighed.

The two Pokémon's bodies collided with them, launching them all high into the air. **"Well, at least we can say we tried."** James sighed as they flew through the air. **"Too bad, it would've been nice to have someone to finally replace you."** Jessie added. **"Hey! You were going to replace me?!"** James yelled back. **"Well** **I am starting to get bored of you.** **"** Jessie remarked, which made James look offended. **"You guys! Don't ever blast off without me again."** Meowth was glad to be back to blasting off with his two closest friends. **"We're blasting off again!"** They all cried together.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Officer Jenny had apologised for everything that had happened before leaving on her way, eager to spend some time with Viridian's Jenny. The gang were all relieved, but none more than Hugo. **"I'm glad you're not a criminal."** Dawn smiled at him. **"Yeah, me too.** **Let's just put it behind us and get back to your breeding, training and accordinating.** **"** He replied. It was the happiest he'd felt since his memory loss. Dawn looked as if she was about to snap at him, but she held it back. They'd been through enough today.

" **T** **here's so many questions."** Brock pondered. **"If the person in that photo wasn't you, then who was it? And why is he attacking people at random? What are his motives?"**

Ash was as positive and enthusiastic as always. " **Yeah! I can't wait for more adventure! We'll find everything out for sure, but for now… race you to the Gym Pikachu!"** With that the raven haired trainer set off sprinting down the road, his electric partner at his heels. Brock, Dawn and Hugo looked at each other, smiling. **"I'm glad I didn't get locked up. I would've missed you guys."** Hugo laughed, then the three of them ran off down the same road, pursuing their excited friend.

* * *

 **Note: In this reality, the move 'Teleport' can only move people/Pokémon a short distance, and can only be used every so often (Otherwise the entire anime would make no sense as to why they walk everywhere). Therefore, people cannot use it to travel to the opposite end of a region in a short time. Also, there is no airport anywhere near Oreburgh or Pastoria and it would at least take a Flying type a few days to cover the distance. This is why Hugo couldn't possibly have been so far away so recently.**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Staravia, Aipom, Turtwig, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Dawn – Buneary, Piplup**

 **Hugo – Kabutops, Shinx**


	7. The Dopey Drifloon

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

Brock placed his own plate on the portable table he'd set up at the edge of a large field near Floaroma Town and took his seat. At his feet all of their Pokémon, including Dawn's new Pachirisu, were enjoying the meal he'd prepared for them. (Except for Pikachu, who was much more interested in a certain ketchup bottle Ash had given it.)

Brock was next to Dawn, who had the same amount of food as him; a normal sized portion. At the opposite end of the table, however, Hugo and Ash were both busy stuffing their faces with five times as much food. They were both eating very quickly and Brock wondered how they could fit so much in their relatively small stomachs.

At the same time, the pair of them finished their meals and grabbed their drinks, gulping down their water just as quickly as they'd done with their food. They finished at the exact same time, looking disappointed that their meals were over. Brock and Dawn, meanwhile, were barely halfway through their own meals. He put down his fork for a moment to grab a drink.

" **If you don't want the rest I'll have it."** Ash and Hugo both offered at the same time.

" **You two have had quite enough, this is mine."** Brock chuckled to himself.

" **Huh? What's so funny?"** The two young men asked, speaking at the exact same time once again.

" **What's funny is how alike you two are. Like two peas in a pod."**

" **Except one of the peas is much** **larger** **than the other."** Dawn added quietly so Ash couldn't hear. Hugo must've heard though as he looked embarassed. Brock wasn't sure whether she was referring to the height difference between the two, or the presence of muscle on Hugo's body and the lack of it on Ash's.

" **Anyway, thanks for the meal Brock."** Ash leaped up. His electric partner ran over and jumped on his shoulder. **"Pika pika!"** It looked very satisfied, having sucked every last drop out of its ketchup bottle.

" **Wanna go burn off that food with some special training?"** Ash asked enthusiastically, to which Pikachu nodded and ran over to an open space on the field. His Aipom was the first of his Pokémon to be done eating, so it ran over to join them and moments later the two Pokémon were engaged in one of Ash's 'special training' battles. The young man had been even livelier than usual since he won his first gym badge the other day.

Brock finished his meal and stood up to begin gathering the dishes. **"Hey Dawn, after you won that ribbon I bet you're eager to get some more practise in to keep your winning streak going."**

" **You betcha!"** She responded. Brock felt proud of Dawn, as though he was her father. He enjoyed nothing more than watching his companions succeed and move closer to their dreams. She'd recently beaten her childhood friend, Kenny, in the final of the Floaroma contest to claim her first ribbon.

" **You go off and do your boredinator training and we'll handle the dishes."** Hugo smiled as he made the offer. His smile was quickly replaced with a confused expression though when he saw the angry expression on the girl's face.

" **You listen here Mister! How many times do I have to tell you it's coordinator?! The word's not that hard to remember! ARGH!"** She began lecturing him about how much of an 'idiot' he was while Hugo stood there smiling uncomfortably, taking all the abuse with no response. Brock remembered that Hugo owed his life to Dawn. He obviously respected her too much to ever argue with her.

Brock chuckled at his friend's expense. **"** **At least he never had to meet Misty..."** He muttered to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, a familiar trio were concealed in a nearby bush, holding binoculars directed straight at Pikachu. **"Perfect."** James began. **"We simply wait for the twerp's Pok** **é** **mon to tire each other out, then swoop in and grab Pikachu."**

" **I think you're forgetting about the rest of the twerp's Pok** **é** **mon."** Meowth argued. **"Dey've got da upper hand when it comes to numbers."**

" **Hey, what're you** **up to** **Ash?"** Dawn strolled over, having finally finished lecturing Hugo.

" **I'm** **having some trouble getting Aipom to listen. It just doesn't seem interested."** Ash grinned sheepishly, scratching his head.

" **D-did he say… trouble?"** Jessie began to twitch.

" **Maybe Aipom would be more interested if it could team up with Pikachu against my Piplup and Pachirisu in a double battle? I've been meaning to give Pachirisu some practise!"**

" **D-did she say… double?"** James began to twitch.

Brock overheard the two talking. They got along so well. They'd only been travelling together for a few weeks but already the two were like best friends.

In fact, come to think of it, all four of them were the same way. They were all like best friends, despite how the only ones who'd known each other before their journey were Ash and Brock. Thinking about their friendship made Brock smile. He felt like a father to the other three, yet they were there to help him out too whenever he needed it.

" **I've been thinking about a new contest combination we could use. I want to combine Piplup's bubblebeam with Pachirisu's discharge. Not only could it look good but the attack could cause some real devastation."** Dawn put her hands together and jumped around happily. She sure was a very bubbly young lady.

 **"T-trouble…** **d-** **devastation..."** Jessie was twitching uncontrollably by this point.

" **No guys! Don't do it! You'll blow our cover!"** Meowth cried, although he knew what was coming.

" **I can't take it any more!"** Jessie jumped out of the bush, revealing herself to Ash and the gang.

" **Me neither!"** James leaped out after her.

Brock rolled his eyes. **"Not these guys again..."**

" **Prepare for trouble, we'll use the old motto today."**

" **And make it double, you used our trigger words, okay?"**

" **To protect the world from devastation!"**

" **To unite all peoples within our nation!"**

" **To denounce the evils of truth and love!"**

" **To extend our reach to the stars above!"**

" **Jessie!"**

" **And James!"**

 **"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"**

" **Surrender now or prepare for one irresistible fight!"**

" **Meowth! that's right! I guess..."**

" **Huh, never heard that one before…"** Dawn scratched her head.

" **I actually preferred it over the usual one..."** Hugo admitted.

" **Thanks for the compliment, twerp, but kind words won't stop us from taking Pikachu."** James pulled out a remote controller with a big red button in the middle. When he pressed it, a big robotic arm shot out, grabbing Pikachu.

" **Hahahahaha!"** The trio laughed as they ran back into the trees. Seconds later, they returned in a giant Meowth-shaped robot which was holding Pikachu in its left hand.

Brock ran over to his two Pokémon. He knew Ash could handle Team Rocket on his own, but he thought he'd try to play the hero role just this once.

" **Ugh! Still after that same boring Pikachu?!"** A female voice called out.

Brock frantically looked around. After a moment, he spotted two more individuals dressed in the same clothing as Jessie and James: Team Rocket uniforms. On the left was the source of the voice; a blond haired woman with a menacing glare. On the right, a green haired man who looked really angry for some reason.

" **Hey! I remember those guys! It's Cassidy… and Biff right?"** Brock yelled across the field.

The green haired man scowled. **"It's Butch! And we're far better than these losers!"**

" **Come on Botch, let's show them a real robot!"** Cassidy and Butch ran off behind some trees, and a moment later reappeared within a giant Raticate-shaped robot.

" **Not you again! The only thing you're better at is going out of fashion!"** Jessie scowled at them from within their giant Meowth robot.

" **Oh yeah? We'll show you a real robot!"** Cassidy scowled back. Their Raticate robot began to move towards the Meowth bot.

 **"Bring it on!"** Meowth was sat at the controls. He pushed a few buttons and the robot dropped Pikachu from its hand before running towards robo-Raticate. None of the trio seemed to even notice.

" **I've gotcha!"** Ash caught his partner safely in his hands. Behind him, Brock, Hugo, Dawn and all their Pokémon sweat-dropped. Team Rocket really were clueless.

 **"Have a taste of my robo-** **f** **ury** **s** **wipes!"** Meowth cried out. The robot extended its claws, slashing at Raticate.

 **"Yeah! Take that!"** James raised a fist triumphantly from within the robot.

" **This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen..."** Dawn remarked to her three friends.

" **You get used to it."** Ash smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head again.

" **Trust me, when you travel with Ash there's never a dull moment."** stated Brock. He knew this better than anyone with them now travelling through their fourth region together.

Just then, Brock noticed something. A Purple Pokémon was floating above their heads, drifting in the wind. It was round like a balloon. It had a yellow x-shape on its face, a small white cloud on its head and two of what appeared to be strings below. Were they its arms?

 **"Woah, who's that Pok** **é** **mon?"** Dawn pulled out her Pokédex.

" **Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon. Drifloon is filled with air and can either expand or shrink to express its feelings. It also likes damp weather."**

 **"** **Awesome!"** She and Ash exclaimed together.

Thinking about it, they were near the Valley Windworks. Brock had heard about how Drifloon could often be found drifting on the wind around here. However, something about this particular Drifloon concerned him.

 **"It's heading into the middle of those two robots!"** Brock was correct. Robo-Raticate was busy chomping on robo-Meowth's arm, but the two were frequently moving apart then slamming against each other. Drifloon may be a ghost type, so many objects simply go through its body, but it could still be crushed between two objects and crushing it was exactly what the robots were going to do if at this rate.

" **Staravia! Come over and help Drifloon out!"** Ash was first to react. His flying type Pokémon quickly caught up to the ghost. It tried everything, from screaming **"Ravia!"** At it to trying to pull it. The problem was, Brock figured, that Staravia was part normal type so most of its moves had no effect on Drifloon. The only move it knew that would have an effect was wing attack. But that wouldn't help, it would just cause damage to Drifloon. The ghost type just didn't seem to know/care that it was heading towards danger.

" **It's way too high up! We can't reach it in time..."** Ash was out of ideas on how to stop Drifloon.

" **Robo-fury swipes!"** Meowth cried as the robot charged towards Raticate once more. The two robots now appeared heavily damaged.

Drifloon was right in the middle of them now. It was moments away from being crushed between the two giant robots…

" **Well, here goes nothing."** Brock turned and was surprised to see Hugo with a pokéball in his hand. He used all of his strength to launch the pokéball high into the air. Somehow, it found its target and hit the back of Drifloon's head. Pokéballs were one of few objects that wouldn't just go straight through its body. At the last second before it was crushed, Drifloon transformed into red energy that entered the pokéball. Having bounced off Drifloon, the pokéball was now falling back towards Hugo. Brock sighed a sigh of relief as the pokéball landed safely on the grassy field, just inches away from robo-Meowth's feet. The ball wriggled for a few seconds, then to everyone's surprise there was a loud 'ping'. Had Drifloon really been caught so easily?

" **Nice thinking! But why didn't it try to break free?"** Dawn questioned. Ash was looking a little jealous. He was probably kicking himself for not thinking of that. He'd have finally caught his first ghost type.

At that moment, the two robots collided. Neither could take any more. Both of them simultaneously fell apart, leaving nothing but piles of scrap with Jessie, James and Meowth lying among one pile of scrap. Butch and Cassidy were among the other pile.

 **"This is all your fault Brian! If you'd just let me control the robot we'd have won!"** Cassidy fumed.

 **"For the last time it's B** **UTCH** **! B-U-** **T** **..."**

" **This is your fault Meowth!"** Jessie interrupted Butch. **"If you'd let me handle the controls we'd have smashed that worthless robot to pieces!"**

" **Yeah, well maybe if you'd stopped yapping in my ear I could've focused better!"** Meowth snapped back.

" **We all know who the true genius here is when it comes to machines!"** James remarked while smiling, closing his eyes and pointing his index finger at himself.

" **Come on Bill, let's show those losers who's better and take that Pikachu for ourselves!"**

" **It's… oh never mind I give up."** Sighed Butch.

" **Raticate go!"** Cassidy launched her pokéball containing the rat Pokémon.

At that moment, Cassidy realised she was fighting a lost cause.

Brock smirked confidently as he glanced over to Ash and Dawn who were doing the same. Hugo was walking over to his pokéball to pick it up.

" **Sudowoodo hammer arm! Croagunk poison jab!"** He commanded.

" **Piplup bubblebeam! Pachirisu discharge!"** Dawn ordered.

" **Pikachu thunderbolt! Staravia wing attack!"** Ash demanded. They still had all their Pokémon out of their pokéballs.

The six Pokémon which had received commands all launched their attacks. Sudowoodo, Pachirisu and Staravia launched theirs at Butch, Cassidy and Raticate while Pikachu, Piplup and Croagunk hit Jessie, James and Meowth.

" **Waaaaah!"** The five of them screamed as the incoming attack collided with them.

They were all launched into the air at once. **"I can't believe those guys put up with this in almost every chapter."** Butch remarked as he was hurtling towards the clouds. At the same time, all five of them cried out. **"We're blasting off again!"** They disappeared into the distance.

* * *

Back on the ground, Brock jogged over to Hugo with Ash and Dawn following him.

 **"Well** **well** **, looks like you've got yourself a new addition to the team?"**

" **I only did that on impulse. Wasn't expecting to actually catch it."** He threw his pokéball into the air, summoning his new companion.

" **Hi Drifloon, I'm Hugo your new trainer...I guess…"** The ghost and flying type had no reaction whatsoever.

" **Um...hello?"** Dawn asked. Still no response.

" **Maybe you should shake its hand?"** Ash suggested. Hugo did just that, but it still stared blankly at him.

 **"Great. Of all the Pok** **é** **mon to accidentally catch, I catch the dopiest of the bunch!"**

At last, Drifloon finally heard him. **"Looooon!"** It responded, nodding its head in agreement at being called dopey while expanding its head to express joy. Brock, Ash and Dawn all sweat-dropped.

" **Don't worry buddy, dopey or not you're part of the team now." "Shinx shinx!"** His little partner added as it walked over to greet its new teammate, along with Hugo's Kabutops. They'd been so quiet all day that Brock had almost forgotten about them. Hugo's Pokémon were definitely the most well behaved out of everyone's.

Suddenly, a familiar growling sound could be heard. Everyone glanced over at Ash. It was, of course, his stomach.

" **Now that that's over, anyone wanna go get something to eat?"** He grinned.

 **"I like that idea! Isn't there a poffin shop nearby?"** Hugo smiled.

 **"Seriously you guys?! You just ate like ten minutes ago!"** Dawn spoke in a frustrated tone as she put her hands on her hips.

" **Hey, catching** **P** **ok** **é** **mon takes a lot of energy."** Hugo shrugged with a huge grin.

" **But you didn't even battle it! All you did was throw a ball at it!"** Dawn stomped her feet in frustration. The guys all began to laugh at how easy the blunette was to wind up.

" **You guys are the worst!"** She fumed, gritting her teeth. Brock knew she didn't mean it though. That was just Dawn being Dawn. He decided, for once, that he'd be the one to have a bit of fun.

" **Hey guys, race you to the poffin store!"** Brock yelled, returning both his Pokémon and dashing off towards the end of the field.

" **No fair! That's my line!"** Ash called out as he and Hugo returned all their Pokémon besides Pikachu and began to run off after him.

" **Ugh…boys!"** Dawn muttered to herself, before she too returned her Pokémon and began to dash across the field with her three travelling companions.

* * *

 **And with that, the dopey Drifloon becomes member #3 of Hugo's squad. Will there be more additions to the squad in future chapters? Will he be able to uncover more secrets about his past? Will they ever get Meowth to translate for Shinx and Kabutops? You'll find out all this and more if you stay tuned for future chapters!**

 **I noticed from researching a few episodes of the anime how easily Dawn got mad at small things, kind of like Misty but in a more playful way. That gets portrayed a lot in this chapter as you can tell. As for Hugo's personality, think of him as a less dense, less battle-obsessed version of Ash without as much of an ego.**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Staravia, Turtwig, Aipom, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Dawn – Buneary, Pachirisu, Piplup**

 **Hugo – Kabutops, Drifloon, Shinx**


	8. Who's That Old Lady?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

Ash Ketchum stood at one end of the battlefield outside Eterna City's Pokémon centre.

 **"You ready to go?!"** He called out to Hugo who was standing on the other end.

 **"Sure am. Drifloon! Kabutops! Let's do this!"** He yelled, tossing the pokéballs and unleashing his Pokémon. **"Looooon!"** The Ghost happily cried while its pre-historic teammate clashed its claws together in anticipation.

 **"Turtwig! Pikachu! I choose you!"** Ash launched his own pokéball containing Turtwig while Pikachu ran out onto the battlefield.

 **"This should be interesting. How does Hugo plan on getting Drifloon to listen?"** Brock asked himself. He was sat on a small wall on the edge of the battlefield beside Dawn.

Ash decided to make the first move. **"Pikachu! Use iron tail!"** Pikachu jumped towards Kabutops, slamming down hard with its tail. **"Pika!"** The crabfish Pokémon parried with its sharp claw. **"Now! Turtwig! Razor leaf!" "Twig!"** The Pokémon launched its leaves towards Kabutops.

 **"Counter with Ancient power!"** Hugo ordered. Impressively, Kabutops used its right claw to hold off Pikachu and its left to summon a group of floating rocks, which it launched towards the incoming leaves, eliminating at least three quarters of them. The few that remained hit Kabutops, dealing 4X the usual damage and causing it to wince in pain.

 **"Come on, Drifloon! Help out! Use Gust!"** Hugo ordered, but the ghost Pokémon merely turned and looked at him.

 **"Come on, you know the move! You can do it!"** The Pokémon stared at him for a moment. **"Loooon!"** It happily exclaimed.

 **"Hmm, doesn't look like that Drifloon's interested in battling… or anything else for that matter!"** Brock commented.

 **"No need to worry, it just needs some time to get used to it."** Dawn beamed at him.

Ash remembered when his Charizard wouldn't listen. Although this was different. Unlike Charizard, Drifloon wasn't disobeying by choice.

 **"Kabutops! Use Surf!"** Hugo decided to focus once again on his other Pokémon. Within seconds, a large wave had formed under Kabutops's feet. It began to cover the battlefield. Ash was surprised that Drifloon actually floated a little higher to avoid the attack.

 **"Dodge it!"** Ash commanded. Pikachu leaped high into the air, using its tail to propel it even higher. Hugo looked impressed as it managed to jump over the wave to the dry land behind it.

Turtwig, however, was unable to figure out a way to dodge. The attack hit directly. It wasn't very effective, but Turtwig still looked hurt.

 **"Quick! Use Synthesis while Pikachu distracts it with volt tackle!"** **"Twig!"** The grass type began to heal itself while Pikachu began picking up speed. **"PikapikapikapikapikaPIKAPIKAPIKA!"** As it became fully charged, it tried to hit Kabutops, but it was able to sidestep out of the way in the last moment. Ash quickly realised, though, that his partner was heading just below where Drifloon was floating.

 **"Jump!"** He shouted to his partner. Pikachu leaped high into the air, colliding head on with Drifloon. The Ghost Pokémon fell to the ground with swirly eyes.

Brock and Dawn sweatdropped. **"Well, maybe there's a little need to worry."** Dawn tried to sound as positive as possible. **"You can say that again."** Added Brock.

 **"Nice try buddy."** Hugo closed his eyes, smiled and shook his head as he returned the clueless Pokémon. Ash felt a little bad going all out against Drifloon but hey, a battle is a battle!

 **"Kabutops! Slash!"** Hugo wasn't done. The crabfish Pokémon launched itself at Turtwig who was still using Synthesis. With half a second to spare, the grass Pokémon finished recovering and impressively managed to move out of the way.

 **"Man, Turtwig's fast!"** Hugo scratched his head, pondering his next move.

 **"Pikachu! Use quick attack!"** Quick as lightning, Pikachu dashed over and collided with Kabutops who couldn't react in time. It stumbled slightly before regaining its balance.

 **"Quick! Finish it with razor leaf!"** Ash commanded. Turtwig once again launched a bombardment of leaves towards its opponent. **"Cut the leaves up with slash!"** Hugo ordered. Ash decided to make the most advantage of his numerical advantage. **"Quick attack! Again!"** Kabutops had its back to Pikachu, facing Turtwig's razor leaf so it was caught off guard by this attack. It stumbled forwards, taking the full force of Turtwig's leaves.

As a rock and water type, one razor leaf was as painful to Kabutops as four would be to most Pokémon. Unsurprisingly, Kabutops fell to the ground, swirly eyes on its face.

 **"Great job buddy! Return!"** Hugo returned his defeated partner as Dawn and Brock stood up and walked onto the battlefield.

 **"It was a good battle. I enjoyed watching."** Brock commented.

 **"Thanks Brock but you can just be honest, we were awful. Ash completely destroyed us."** Hugo frowned.

 **"Not at all!"** Ash responded as he walked over to be close enough to the others so he didn't have to shout. **"You almost had me with that surf attack!"**

 **"Wig wig!" "Pika pi!"** Ash was delighted when his two partners ran over to him looked ecstatic about their victory. **"You were awesome guys! Now Turtwig, take a good rest."** He returned the Sinnoh starter to its pokéball.

 **"Maybe Drifloon needs time to warm up to you?"** Dawn suggested with an awkward smile.

 **"I doubt it. I think I'm just not cut out to be its trainer…"** Hugo avoided eye contact and looked to the ground with a sad expression.

 **"Not at all! You're an awesome trainer Hugo. You just need time to figure out what will grab Drifloon's attention."** Ash said in the most positive tone he could. He was good at cheering his friends up.

As Ash expected, the words of encouragement seemed to work somewhat. **"Thanks Ash."** Hugo smiled slightly. **"We'll keep on trying."**

At that moment, the group's attention was diverted towards a voice in the distance.

 **"That's the biggest load of nonsense I've heard in my entire life! Thanks for nothing, creep!"**

A man stormed towards them looking furious.

Ash could swear he'd seen this person before. After a moment of contemplation, he identified him as the same man from the picture in the newspaper the other day. The one who'd been attacked by the thief who looked like Hugo.

None of his friends seemed to make the same connection, though, as they all stared off in the same direction. An elderly woman slowly made her way towards them, supported by her walking stick. The only clothing Ash could see was a pink robe which went all the way from her shoulders to the floor, concealing her whole body besides her face and hands, which were at the end of her sleeves. As she got closer it became clear she was rather short. Ash had teased Dawn many times about her height, but truthfully she wasn't that short. It just looked that way since they were travelling with Hugo and Brock, both proud members of the 6 foot plus club. This woman, however, made Dawn look gigantic.

 **"Dear oh dear."** The old woman began. **"He travelled all the way from Pastoria city to hear my tale, only to not believe a word of it?"**

Ash and his three companions stared at her for a moment.

 **"Um… do you mind telling us what your tale's about?"** Dawn inquired.

 **"Well my dear, my tale is about a long forgotten legend. How true the tale may be is for you to decide. Although, clearly, that young man sees no truth in it at all."** She explained, before turning around and slowly beginning to walk away.

The gang all stared at each other for a moment.

 **"I've heard enough legends to know that most of them turn out to be true!"** Ash exclaimed. He was right. Where could he start? There was the legend of Mewtwo, Ho-oh, Lugia and Rayquaza to name a few...

They walked behind the old lady. **"Hey, we'd like to hear your tale if that's okay with you?"** Dawn pleaded.

The old lady turned and stared at Dawn with an intense glare, making the coordinator look extremely uncomfortable. After a few seconds, the glare disappeared from her face and was replaced with a smile.

 **"Why of course, young lady. Why don't you come on over to my home just up the road? We can all enjoy a lovely cup of tea while I tell my tale."**

Dawn still looked creeped out by the mysterious woman, but Hugo answered for her. **"That sounds great! Thanks a lot!"**

For a moment, Ash thought he heard something, but he shrugged off the thought as the old lady began to lead them towards her home.

* * *

What he'd heard came from above. Up in the air, three individuals in a Hot Air Balloon were fighting over a pair of binoculars.

 **"Come on Meowth, stop hogging it and let me see!"** Jessie demanded while she tried to barge him out of the way. **"No! You've had your turn! Let me have a looksie!"** James argued as he tried to barge Meowth in the opposite direction.

"Would you mugs stop your yabbering for a minute?" Meowth snapped. **"Da twoirps might be onto sometin' here! Dis creepy lady said sometin' about a legend."**

 **"Not that we'd know since you're hogging the ear piece AND the binoculars"** James snapped back. Their tiny drone had been placed on the Pokémon centre wall allowing them to listen in.

 **"What's say we pay this lady a visit ourselves?"** Suggested James, and an evil grin grew on the faces of each member of the trio.

* * *

Back on the ground, the gang had finally arrived at the old lady's house. It wasn't far from the Pokémon centre but she was a VERY slow walker. Ash hated moving so slowly but he was too much of a nice guy to even consider complaining about it.

The group gathered in the woman's small hut. They each took an uncomfortable wooden chair. Rather than electricity or gas, this hut seemed to rely on fire for lighting and warmth. They all gathered around a fire place as the old lady finished preparing tea for them all. Ash impatiently took a large gulp of his tea.

 **"YAAAAAARGH!"** He squealed. **"H-H-HOT!"** Hugo and Dawn covered their mouths with their hands in a desparate attempt to avoid bursting out with laughter. When Pikachu started, though, they couldn't hold it in. Strangely, Brock was the only one not laughing. Probably because he'd seen this sort of behaviour too many times before.

"Dear me boy, didn't your mother teach you to be more patient?" The woman shook her head, tutting.

 **"Anyway, I suppose I better get to telling that story you all came to hear..."** The woman began to position herself on a chair when there was a knock at the door.

Ash dashed over to the door and swung it open. In front of him stood three figures: The first was a blue hairedd man with a very fancy moustache and sunglasses. He was wearing a grey suit and tie and standing perfectly upright, trying to look as posh as possible. The second was a pink haired woman with a ridiculous amount of makeup, she wore an expensive looking dress that covered her whole body as well as bright red heels. The first looked rather strange: Sunglasses, a beard and a black beanie hat covered most of his face, although Ash could swear he could see whiskers just like on a Meowth. He was wearing a large trench coat that was too big for him and completely covered his arms and legs.

 **"Good day old chap!"** The blue haired man exclaimed in a posh accent. **"We were just in the neighbourhood on the way to a our very fancy home in a very fancy town near a very fancy resteraunt, but we couldn't help but overhear talk of a legend being told."**

The woman walked up beside Ash. **"That's right. You came just in time. Come on in, take a seat and hear my tale."**

The three unusual character walked in. The man in the trenchcoat appeared to be struggling to keep his balance. **"Thank you very much my dear."** The blue haired man responded.

Everyone took a seat, besides the man in a trench coat, who insisted on standing for some reason.

 **"Now, legend tells of a legendary beast like no other. It is said that it is so evil, even light itself tries to avoid this horrifying beast. It is said to posess the power to alter the memories of all it comes across."**

Upon hearing this, the gang all gasped at once and stared at Hugo, making him look very uncomfortable from all the attention.

The woman continued. **"Rumour has it that it feeds on living creatures, but rather than eating their flesh, it will consume their memories one by one, devouring every last memory from the happiest moments to the most basic pieces of knowledge. It will keep on feasting until nothing is left. The victim will be left phsyically unharmed, but its brain will no longer function, causing them to lay lifeless on the ground."  
**

Ash, Brock, Dawn, Hugo and the three strange characters were all stunned.

 **"So... a Pokémon?"** Ash questioned.

 **"That much is unknown."** The woman replied.

Dawn turned to Hugo. **"M-maybe this has something to d-do w-with..."** The legend had scared her and she was having trouble with a stutter.

 **"Woooobbuffet..."**

Ash could swear he heard a voice from within the man's trench coat.

 **"Hmm? What was that?"** The old woman questioned.

 **"Oh, um, it was nothing."** The man in a trench coat waved his sleeves about. **"Just my stomach, I haven't had lunch yet."** The three unusual people grinned. The blue annd pink haired characters were covering his stomach with their hands, as if they were trying to keep it quiet.

 **"Excuse me, but do you know the name of this beast?"** Hugo pleaded with the woman. This was their biggest clue yet as to how he ended up with no memory.

 **"Why actually yes I do young man. The beast goes by the name of-"**

 **"A-a-a-ACHOOO!"** The man in a trench coat cut off her sentence. As he sneezed, he stumbled backwards. To everyone's surprise, his head appeared to fall off the rest of his body. His trench coat then obeyed the law of gravity and fell to the floor, revealing a Wobuffet standing there. Meowth was lying next to it, with his fake beard, sunglasses and hat now having fallen off.

 **"Yikes! Our cover's blown!"** Exclaimed Meowth.

 **"What is this?! What's going on?!"** The old woman asked, fear in her voice.

 **"Listen, is that an ancient voice I hear?"** Started the pink haired woman.

 **"Your expiration date's passed my dear."** Continued the blue haired man.

 **"On the wind!"**

 **"Past the stars!"**

 **"In your ear!"** Meowth leaped up.

 **"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace!"**

 **"Dashing hope putting fear in its place!"**

 **"A rose by any other name is just as sweet!"**

 **"When everything's worse our work is complete!"**

 **"Jessie!"** Jessie threw off her disguise, revealing her true identity.

 **"James!"** James threw off his disguise, revealing his true identity.

 **"And Meowth, now dat's a name!"**

 **"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"**

 **"We're Team Rocket, and we're in your face!"**

 **"Wooooooobbuffet!"**

 **"What's that? Team socket? No. I'm sorry. I have quite enough socks already."** The old lady asked inoccently.

James and Meowth sweatdropped.

 **"WE'RE NOT HERE TO SELL SOCKS WE'RE HERE TO STEAL PIKACHU!"** Jessie snapped at her.

 **"Feel Pikachu? Why, I'm sure this nice young man would have let you stroke his Pikachu without the need to go to such extreme lengths."**

Ash got the feeling this woman was teasing them on purpose.

 **"That's it! I've had enough of this! Go Seviper!"**

Jessie launched her pokéball.

 **"Stop! You can't do that inside someone's home!"** Brock tried to explain.

 **"Like I care about a silly rule like THAT!"** Jessie stuck her tongue out at Brock.

 **"My dear, I believe you're making a large error of judgment..."** The woman sounded calmer than earlier.

 **"What do we do now? Pikachu can't use thunderbolt inside someone's house..."** Ash was out of ideas.

 **"Don't you worry Ash, everything's under control."** The old woman smiled at him. Ash didn't remember telling her his name.

 **"It's time for me to go now."** She really didn't seem to care that there was literally a large snake in the room. " **Young Hugo, good luck with finding your... oops, better not say more than that."** Ash was certain Hugo had never told her his name. He began to feel a little nervous around this woman...

The next thing that happened completely shocked Ash. The room began to shake violently, spilling tea everywhere. The old woman then began to rise, higher and higher, until she appeared to phase through the ceiling! **"Wh-what's going on?!"** Ash stammered.

He turned to see Pikachu, Dawn, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet all standing with teriffied expressions. Seviper seemed to have retreated back into its pokéball while Hugo... was nowhere to be seen?

At that moment, the entire hut began to levitate, then suddenly it appeared to phase out of existence entirely. The gang all fell to the ground below.

 **"W-we gotta get outta here!"** James panicked.

 **"Time for a hasty retreat!"** Jessie agreed.

Their attention was caugh by a loud noise from above. Ash glanced up to see something he never thought he'd see: the legendary Pokémon, Rayquaza. Although this wasn't like the Rayquaza he'd seen before. This one was black and looked evil. But what really caught his attention was where its mouth was. It was charging up an attack: Hyper beam!

 **"Come on! We've gotta move!"** Brock yelled but nobody moved. Ash felt completely incapable of moving.

 **"RRAAAAAARRRRGH!"** Rayquaza launched its powerful hyper beam attack, causing a huge explosion at the feet of Team Rocket and launching them high into the air. **"We're blasting off again!"** They cried as they shot off into the sky.

Rayquaza then turned its attention towards Ash and his friends. It tilted its head back, beginning to charge up another attack. Ash felt a rush of fear down his spine.

 **"I j-j-just want you guys to know I've h-had a g-great time travelling with you."** Dawn trembled.

 **"Y-yeah me too."** Ash added.

They stood helplessly, unable to move as Rayquaza launched its attack straight for them.

* * *

 **"Ash... Ash? Come on man, wake up already!"** Ash opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Hugo and Shinx standing over him. As he came to his senses he looked around; he was lying in the middle of the grassy battlefield he and Hugo had used for their battle earlier. Pikachu, Dawn and Brock were lying beside him, each of them were also looking around with a confused gaze.

Hugo smiled. **"Phew... that was weird. You all just, kinda... passed out. I went to look for Nurse Joy to help but she was busy and said she could only help if there was a serious injury involved so I didn't know what to do other than wait for you to wake up. Our battle wasn't that exhausting was it?"** He smiled.

Ash fully regained his senses and was the first to leap to his feet. **"So... that was all a dream?"**

 **"What was?"** Hugo looked puzzled.

Dawn struggled to her feet, frantically sorting her hair out. **"Oh no! I can't believe you've seen me like this! My hair's such a mess!"**

Ash and Hugo shrugged in sync. **"Looks the same as usual to me..."**

She glared at them **"The nerve of you two! Unlike some people I take pride in my appearance! Hmph!"**

 **"Calm down, sleepy head. Nobody saw you other than us three... oh yeah, and all those jordinator friends of yours who came while you were sleeping."**

 **"WHAT?!"** Dawn began to panick.

 **"Sheesh, I was joking. Nobody came, no need to worry, ok?"**

 **"SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN AND YOU'LL HAVE A BIG NEED TO WORRY MISTER! AND HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?! IT'S COORDINATOR! C-O-O-R-D..."**

 **"So you guys had the same dream?"** Brock interrupted from behind, finally getting to his feet.

 **"Did it involve a black Rayquaza?"** Ash asked with a sheepish smile.

 **"Sounds like the same one!"** Brock answered while Dawn and Pikachu nodded.

 **"That sounds awesome! You've gotta tell me about it!"**

Ash, Dawn and Brock explained the strange dream to Hugo. Turns out, the strange woman never even appeared. It was all just part of their dream.

When they'd finished their story Hugo scratched his head.

 **"Wait, so if the woman had no electricity or gas, how was she able to make a hot cup of tea?"** He asked.

Dawn sighed and shook her head. **"You're just unbelievable! Of all the questions you could've asked, you ask that one?"** The boys all began to laugh while Dawn glared at them, looking frustrated.

 **"Maybe we can find out more about this legendary beast sometime?"** Hugo stated in a serious tone when he was done laughing.

 **"Something tells me that legend must have something to do with your loss of memory Hugo."** Brock scratched his chin in a thinking pose. **"If only we'd heard its name. We could ask around about it..."**

Just then, Ash got the feeling they were being watched. He glanced up at the pokémon centre's roof. There was a black, shadow like Pokémon staring down at them. It had a small head with a whit fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright blue eyes with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also had a spiky red growth around its neck. It had skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders. Its body shape resembled that of an hourglass.

Upon noticing Ash staring at it, the mysterious Pokémon turned away and seemed to disappear into the dark sky. Which made Ash notice: It was now dark out. How long had they been asleep?

 **"I don't get it though. If I was part of the dream why didn't I fall asleep?"** Hugo looked puzzled.

 **"Who knows, but I'm sure we'll find out the answer to all our questions in the future and I can't wait for that. In the mean time, I've got a gym battle to prepare for. How does a double battle sound to you guys?"** Ash's couldn't hide the excitement in his voice at the prospect of battling.

Dawn put her hands on her hips, smiling and shaking her head side to side. **"Typical Ash. Always got battling on the brain."**

Ash's trademark goofy grin appeared on his face. **"It's what I was born to do! Now let's battle!"**

Brock and Hugo chuckled at their excited friend, as they each made their way to the edge of the battlefield, ready for their evening training session.

* * *

Meanwhile, three sleepy figures stumbled to their feet in their Hot Air Balloon floating in the night sky.

 **"Ugh, what a nightmare!"** Meowth complained.

 **"That wasn't beauty sleep! That was ugly sleep!"** Jessie whined.

 **"Next time I think I'll just stay awake..."** James whinged.

 **"I've had enough creepy stuff for one night. If I see one more creepy thing I'm going to lose it!"** Jessie exclaimed.

As she finished her sentence, the same mysterious Pokémon Ash had seen moments earlier flew past, coming within inches of Team Rocket's balloon. The trio froze from fear.

 **"On second thoughts, I think I might just go back to sleep."** James spoke through his teeth as he fainted from the sudden rush of fear that had overcome him.

 **"Sounds like a plan."** Jessie and Meowth spoke together as they too fainted.

The mysterious Pokémon turned back towards the idiotic trio and stared for a moment, before turning back and continuing to drift off into the night sky.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I want to start making slightly longer chapters (Around this length on average) in the future. Next chapter is gonna be based quite heavily on an actual anime episode, but of course Hugo will add his own twist to it ;) If you want to keep up to date with this story, remember to follow or favourite. Reviews would be appreciated too.  
**

 **Current teams:**

 **Unchanged from the previous chapter.**


	9. Mass Hip-Po-Sis

**Hi guys, thanks for reading this far! This is the longest chapter yet and my favourite so far. It took lots of planning but A LOT happens. More than has happened in any previous chapter. For this reason it's the longest yet, roughly double the length of chapter 1.**

 **Early on, it follows episode 44 of the anime episode 'Mass Hip-Po-Sis' but with somewhat of a twist added to it. Before you say "Well I'm not reading this, I've heard this story before!" This is very necessary in order to set up the remainder of the chapter. The second half of this chapter is totally original content that reveals quite a bit about our mysterious protagonist. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

" **Hey! Turtwig!"**

 **"Turtwig! It's time to go now!"**

" **Turtwig! Where are you?!"**

The gang had just finished a nice meal courtesy of Brock, only to find that while they were eating Ash's Turtwig seemed to have wondered off into a nearby woods.

" **TurtWIG!"** Turtwig jumped out of a nearby bush, anxiously trying to tell its trainer something.

" **Aha! There you are!"** said Dawn.

 **"What are you doing out here?"** Ash asked.

" **T-w-w-w-w-w-twiiiiiig…"** It groaned as it grabbed Ash's leggings with its mouth and tried it best to pull him towards a nearby cliff.

Upon following Turtwig closer to the cliff, they noticed something unusual perched upon a small rock near the top.

" **Up there! Isn't that a Pok** **é** **mon?"** Dawn asked in a worried tone.

" **I think..."** Brock answered, trying to make out what the figure was.

" **Oh no! If it falls it'll be terrible!"** Dawn sounded even more worried.

" **Don't move! You're gonna be just fine! We'll-"** Ash began to shout to the Pokémon until something caught his attention. "Hey what are you doing?"

Hugo grinned at Ash. **"I've got this, don't worry."**

" **Everyone!** **Let's do this!"** He summoned all three of his Pokémon from their Pokéballs.

Ash scratched his head. **"I don't get it. What's the plan?"**

" **It's a bit risky, but it might just work."** He pulled out his regular sized Surfboard. **"Hey buddy, hop on!"** He looked down at Shinx, pointing at the top of his own head. The Pokémon didn't seem to know what was going on, but it did as it was told.

" **Sorry guys, but you'll need to step aside unless you wanna get wet… thinking about it, maybe I shouldn't have warned you. I'd have loved to see Dawn's reaction if her hair got wet."** He chuckled at his own joke.

The blue haired girl gritted her teeth. **"The only reaction you'd get the chance to see would be my fist in your face!"**

Hugo laughed louder, he loved winding her up. Brock threw his arms back. **"Wow! Why so feisty? I haven't seen this sort of behaviour since we parted ways with Misty!"**

Hugo finally composed himself. **"Sorry Brock, it's my fault… she'd probably be** **much sweeter** **if I weren't here."**

" **Come on guys, we need a plan!"** Ash interrupted. He was normally a very playful character but not when a person or Pokémon was in danger.

 **"Oh right, sorry Ash."** Hugo was brought back to reality by Ash's words.

" **Kabutops! Surf!"** The prehistoric Pokémon began to summon a fast growing wave as Hugo knelt on his board, paddling with his hands a few times, occasionally splashing Dawn slightly in the process, which irritated her even more as he was clearly doing it on purpose. She was about to shout at him again until she saw the smirk on his face. Not wanting to give him what he wanted she held back.

" **I see the idea, but that wave's not high enough to reach..."** Brock wondered, scratching his chin.

Suddenly, Ash hit his face with his palm. **"I get it now! Why didn't I think of that?!"** He figured out the plan way before anyone else.

As the wave approached Drifloon began to rise higher and higher, to avoid the wave itself and any splashes rising from it.

" **Perfect. Now's our chance!"** Hugo leaped from his surfboard, Shinx still balanced on his head, and grabbed Drifloon's 'arms' (Well, the dangly things below its head.) Drifloon possess the strength to carry 10-year-old children, maybe it could even carry someone like Dawn a short distance, but Hugo was 19 years old, 6 and a half foot tall, and covered in muscle. There was no way it could carry HIM.

" **Loooooon!"** The Pokémon struggled with the extra weight. It began to move forwards in its struggle while slowly descending.

Back on the ground, Ash knew what the plan was. **"Shinx! Jump!"** He yelled from below. The electric type leaped off its trainer's head onto the small ledge on the cliff. Kabutops reached the end of its wave while Hugo and Drifloon slowly reached the ground.

" **Thanks guys, awesome stuff."** Hugo told his two partners as they were both returned to their respective pokéballs.

Brock and Ash gave a small applause. **"I'm impressed."** Brock began. **"But what's the plan now?"**

Hugo looked puzzled for a moment. **"Um… hadn't thought about that."** He smiled sheepishly.

Ash, Brock, Dawn and Pikachu sweat-dropped. **"You can't be serious..."** Dawn sighed

" **Don't worry, we'll figure something out."** Hugo raised his fist in a triumphant pose. **"Hey Shinx!"** He yelled towards his partner. **"Don't suppose you can use Teleport or something?!"**

Back up on the ledge, Shinx and the other Pokémon were trying their best to think of how to get down. Shinx began to concentrate hard.

Eventually, something strange seemed to appear on Shinx's back. Vines began to shoot out, hitting the ground below and attaching themselves like a rope. Brock watched in amazement. **"I don't believe it! That's got to be vine whip!"**

" **Awesome! That's perfect buddy!"** Hugo looked delighted that his partner had discovered another move it knows. He began to walk towards the vines, preparing to climb.

" **Um… Hugo? Don't you think Ash should do that?"** Dawn called to him from behind.

" **Huh?"** He looked puzzled, until he turned to see her glaring at him, then at Ash.

" **Oh I get it. You think I'm too fat for the vines to hold me, huh?"** Hugo pretended to be offended.

" **N-n-no no no! Not at all! It's just that Ash is… lighter!"** Dawn's face turned slightly red.

" **Oh I see, I thought you were implying that I had a few too many poffins for dessert earlier."** Hugo tried to look as serious as he could.

" **N-no! Not al all! No need to worry! Hahaha..."** Dawn gave a fake laugh, her face growing even redder. Brock sighed. Hugo's attempts to wind up the coordinator had succeeded once again…

" **I gotcha!"** The three of them turned around to see that while they'd been talking Ash and Pikachu had already climbed the vines and grabbed the Pokémon. They slid back down carefully as Hugo thanked his partner, returning it to its pokéball from afar so nobody else had to bother climbing up again to bring Shinx down.

" **Wow. Man you were brave! My name's Ash from Pallet Town. Nice to meet ya!"** The raven haired trained told the new Pokémon. The rest of the gang got a closer look at the Pokémon for the first time.

 **"It's a Hippopotas!"** Brock exclaimed

" **Hippopotas, the hippo Pok** **é** **mon. It lives in dry places and covers itself in sand to protect against germs. It does not enjoy getting wet."** Dawn's pokédex explained.

The Hippopotas was visibly shaking. **"Poor dear.** **Y** **ou still scared?"** Dawn knelt down closer to its height and asked.

" **I'd be surprised if it's not. It was scary. I'll bet you a snack would help."** Brock feed some Pokémon food to Hippopotas, which it made clear that it didn't enjoy the taste of.

" **Darn, some Pok** **é** **mon are hard to please..."** Hugo leaned against a nearby tree pondering that thought. He caused the tree to shake slightly so an Apple fell and hit him on the head, giving him swirly eyes and causing him to stagger around momentarily.

While everyone else was laughing at him, Hippopotas wondered over to the fallen fruit and engulfed it all in is mouth, eating the whole thing in a single bite.

" **Hippo! Hippo!"** The ground type exclaimed.

 **"Look! There's a smile!"** Dawn beamed. **"Way to go!"** Ash added.

Moments later, the group had departed from the newly rescued Pokémon and Ash and Hugo were already discussing what they wanted for their next meal, ignoring Dawn's insults about how they had a second stomach instead of a brain. **"Pika Pika!"** Pikachu grabbed Ash's attention, pointing behind. They turned to see a small figure following them. **"Hippo Hippo!"** Hippopotas said happily.

" **Hold on. You wanna come along with us?"** Ash questioned. **"Hippo Hippo!"** Was his response.

" **Ash! I think Hippopotas wants to be yours!"** Dawn said excitedly. **"After all, you're the one who rescued it."** Brock added.

Suddenly, four adults dashed out of nowhere. The only Female had ginger hair, a yellow suit, yellow shorts and was holding a microphone; an overweight male was holding a much larger mic above her head. The two other men were filming her from several angles. The three men were wearing their camera crew uniforms.

 **"Aha! Finally the missing Hippopotas has been rescued! Surviving in the wilderness only to be rescued by these young people!"** The woman reported to the camera. The guy with the large mic accidentally hit her in the face with it. **"** **ARGH! IF YOU DON'T WATCH THAT MIC YOU'RE GONNA BE IN THE WILDERNESS!"**

" **Anyway, I'm Ronda from Sinnoh now. We've been documenting this Hippopotas trying to return to its herd. They usually live in dry places and like to cover themselves in sand."**

" **In that case, we should take this guy back to its buddies!"** Ash decided, to the agreement of the rest of the gang.

" **So, come with us and let's find all your friends."** Ash told Hippopotas.

" **This way!"** Dawn began to dash off with the rest quickly following.

 **"Come on boys let's go!"** Ronda told her camera crew who dashed off after them.

Nobody got very far, though, as they all fell into a pitfall trap. Unfortunately for Hugo, the large man with the mic landed directly on him.

 **"Are you okay?"** Dawn managed to ask as she also laid in pain.

" **N-no..."** Hugo managed to mutter, unable to breathe.

" **Ugh, why's this hole here?"** Ash asked, but his question was quickly answered as a rope with a hook quickly swung down, pulling Hippopotas away.

" **Team Rocket!"** He exclaimed as he clambered out of the hole.

" **Heeheeheeheehee!"** The trio snickered from their retreating Hot Air Ballon.

" **Thanks a lot for your high po poo tass!"** Jessie called out.

" **Turtwig I choose you! Razor leaf!"** Ash reacted quickly. Turtwig's razor leaf cut Team Rocket's rope.

As Hippopotas landed a large bubble came out of its mouth, popping near Brock.

" **Come on! I don't have any time to mess with Team Rocket now! Bye!"**

Ash darted off with the gang all following. **"What?! You've got a schedule?! Come back! I want Happy puppy!"** Jessie shook her fist in anger as they disappeared from her view.

* * *

Moments later, Ash, Dawn and Hugo had been separated from the camera crew. But that wasn't what was bothering them at that moment. Brock was lying on the floor sleeping peacefully.

" **Huh, there's not much we can do since he was hit by Hippopotas's yawn back there. Unless..."** Dawn stopped mid sentence and she, Ash and Pikachu all looked at Hugo with a smirk on their face.

" **Oh no! I'm not doing it!"** Hugo shook his hands about, knowing what they were implying.

" **Oh please, won't you do it for us?!"** Dawn pleaded. She stuck out her bottom lip as much as she could, trying to look as cute as possible. **"No way! And you're like, what? 17? Sorry miss explorinator but that cute little girl** **look** **doesn't work for you any more."**

* * *

A short time later, Ash, along with Pikachu on his shoulder were snickering quietly, covering their mouth with their hand so Dawn didn't notice. Hugo's face was red, covered in sweat with a grimace on his face. He had his left arm wrapped around Brock's back with his right wrapped around his upper-legs while the breeder was still asleep, unaware he was being carried. **"S-so h-heavy...n-need...r-rest...p-please?"** He was struggling to keep up with Ash and Dawn's walking pace. Dawn had her arms crossed and still looked angry. The mark her hand had left on his face when she slapped him could still be seen. She remained silent, therefore denying Hugo's request for a rest. **"I g-get it. I'm s-sorry… n-no more teasing..."** Dawn started walking faster to irritate him even more, she was enjoying her revenge.

Ash then noticed Team Rocket's balloon hovering above. **"Quick! Let's hide in the bushes!"** Ash exclaimed. He and Dawn sprinted off with Hippopotas and Pikachu on Ash's head and shoulder.

They both enjoyed watching as Hugo desperately struggled towards the bush, still carrying a sleeping Brock. He finally made it there and dropped Brock gradually onto the grass before putting his hands on his knees gasping for breath. **"Man, you're slow."** Dawn smiled and winked at him. **"But no need to worry. You did good."** Hugo sighed a sigh of relief as Dawn's revenge punishment was finally over.

Another short time passed, and Brock was finally awake again. The group were wondering what else could go wrong when they got their answer; a hook swooped down and once again grabbed Hippopotas. They glanced up to see it was once again Team Rocket.

 **"Now we've got a happy hibachi!"** Jessie taunted from their balloon.

James shook his head at her persistent confusion. **"You don't read much do you?"**

Suddenly, Hippopotas shook free from the hook, and sand began to fill balloon's basket.

" **Waah! This isn't a day at the beach!"** Jessie cried.

 **"It's Hipopotas sand tomb."** James explained.

" **I hate sand in my boots!"** Jessie exclaimed as their balloon began to fall due to all the extra weight from the sand.

" **Gangwaaaaaay!"** The trio screamed as their balloon fell to the ground.

Ash and the gang ran over to Hippopotas as it walked away from the Rocket balloon.

" **Move away from my harpohippostad or every twerp gets it big time!"** Jessie fumed.

" **Aipom! I choose you! Use focus punch!"** Ash quickly commanded. The attack sent the Rocket trio flying high into the air.

 **"We're blasting off prematurely!"** They cried.

" **Po!"** Hippopotas cried happily as it sent out another bubble, this time popping in Dawn's face.

* * *

Ash, Brock and Hugo were now the ones walking. Hugo once again had the burden of carrying someone. Wanting to give his arms a rest, Hugo was giving Dawn a piggyback ride, but having to keep up with Ash and Brock's walking pace was once again causing him to struggle to keep up, his face red from the effort with a grimace once again. **"My poor back..."** He complained to himself.

They arrived at a dangerous looking bridge. **"We better approach this one at a time just to be safe."** Brock decided.

Brock and Hippopotas made their way across the bridge first, next came Ash and Pikachu.

" **You guys go on ahead! When Dawn wakes up we'll catch up!"** Hugo called to them at the other side, not wanting to have to carry Dawn across the bridge in fear of it collapsing under them.

He carefully put Dawn's sleeping body on some soft grass and sat down for a moment to wait. As Dawn was beginning to wake up he could hear laughter from above once again. **"Heeheeheehee!"** Team Rocket's balloon was floating above, with Hippopotas captured in a net hanging below them. James's Carnivine then launched a bullet seed attack at the bridge, completely destroying it.

" **Croagunk! Poison sting!"** Brock launched the long range attack from the other side of the bridge, impressively managing to rip a hole in Hippopotas's net without hitting Hippopotas. This enabled the Ground type to break free.

Ash and Brock were distracted by Team Rocket on the other side of the bridge and Dawn was still only half awake. To make things worse, Hippopotas was now falling to the ground on Hugo's side, right next to the river. Reluctantly, Hugo had no choice but to leave Dawn unprotected for the moment. **"I've gotcha!"** Hugo bolted towards the falling Pokémon, catching it just in time. Unfortunately for him, though, he was unable to stop his momentum and stumbled off the edge off the cliff into the river below. Luckily they didn't land on any rocks or anything so they plunged into the river unharmed. The only problem was that Hippopotas hated water.

Hugo was already exhausted from all the day's events, but now things were much worse. He realised something really bad: either he'd never learned how to swim or he'd lost his memory of how to do so! He laid back in the water, wrapping his arm around Hippopotas who was clearly in some pain. With his other arm he grabbed a pokéball. With no time to think about which one it was, he launched it up in the air. **"Loooooon!"** The appearing Pokémon exclaimed happily.

Hugo grabbed one of Drifloon's arms with his free arm, pulling it down to inches above the rapid flowing river. He grabbed Hippopotas with both hands and reached up towards Drifloon. Thankfully the injured Ground type had the strength to grab onto Drifloon. Hugo smiled; his ghost type may not be the strongest or smartest but it was doing him a huge favour by saving Hippopotas from the dangerous current. Unfortunately, this was the last thing he saw as he realised he was no longer lying down and therefore began to sink underwater. He knew Kabutops could save him from this mess but he was unable to find the correct pokéball in time. His vision began to fade as he sank deeper and deeper…

* * *

Hugo awoke to find himself laid in a grassy field. His clothes were somehow dry despite his earlier plunge. He felt around on his belt but it seemed his pokéballs were no longer there. Wondering if Ash or Brock may have taken his Pokémon while he was unconscious, he looked around from where he was sat to try and find his friends.

Surprisingly, though, nobody was anywhere to be seen. In fact, what he saw was that he was sat at the top of a hill, and at the bottom there appeared to be a small village in the distance. What surprised Hugo, though, were the people in the village. A large crowd seemed to have gathered at the bottom of the hill, waving and gesturing towards Hugo. They were too far away to make out what any of them looked like or what they were wearing, but Hugo felt an overwhelming feeling that he knew these people somehow.

After fully coming to his senses, he scrambled to his feet and began walking down the hill towards the village. As he walked, he could vaguely make out one or two words of what the people were shouting to him.

" **We...long time…"**

" **...She… worried… too long… missing."**

" **Did you…brother?"**

Hugo flinched. He could swear he heard the mention of a brother. Did he have a brother? Or was the person referring to his own brother? He did his best to remember, but the only thing he succeeded in doing was giving himself a headache from thinking so hard.

After several minutes of walking, Hugo felt a chill down his spine. He realised that the village didn't look any closer than it had from the top of the hill. He quickened his pace to a light jog. As he did so, the village actually appeared to start moving further away.

Beginning to panic, Hugo began to run faster and faster down the hill. Before long he was at a full sprint. Despite his efforts, though, the village was visibly getting further away. The hill seemed to be growing larger with every step he took, as though he was on a treadmill moving faster than he could run.

As Hugo's breathing grew heavier and his legs began to tire, one figure from the village began to move closer. At first he felt relief that someone was finally going to speak with him. Before long, though, he realised what it was that was approaching. A very familiar figure stood before him, their face completely concealed by darkness. Hugo was certain he would instantly recognise this person if he could actually see their face. They appeared to be around the same height as Hugo. He tried to identify their gender by examining their clothing, but he really couldn't see. This person just didn't seem to reflect light.

Hugo then realised that he was still running fast, while this person was standing completely still. Despite this, they weren't getting any closer. The figure stood silently for a good ten seconds, taking in the sight before them. They then appeared to produce some sort of ball in their hand. They launched it into the air, summoning the most terrifying looking beast Hugo had ever seen. It was a large dragon-like Pokémon, at least 10 feet long if not longer. It appeared to have large black wings, but that was all Hugo could make out. It too was concealed in darkness just like the person stood before him. The figure held out an arm, pointing straight at Hugo.

Seemingly understanding its orders, the large creature sent forth a wave of darkness that engulfed Hugo. Unable to continue running, Hugo stood still in the darkness, petrified and unable to move. Feelings of fear overcame him as he could feel the dark force being absorbed into his body.

* * *

" **Come on, wake up already!"** Hugo felt a pair of hands on each side of his chest, shaking his body left and right. He opened his eyes to three familiar figures standing before him. The source of the voice was a pink haired woman, with a blue haired man and cat-like Pokémon standing very close behind her. All three looked relieved as he rose to a sitting position. Looking around, he realised he must be in their Hot Air Balloon.

" **Finally! You twerps sure like to put yourselves in danger, huh?"** Jessie groaned. **"This one's certainly not shy of a bit of adventure."** Added James. **"But if we hadn't been there to scoop you up in our net, you'd be a goner by now."** He continued.

Hugo couldn't believe his eyes OR his ears. Why was he with Team Rocket and why did they seem concerned about him? He felt around his belt and to his amazement, they hadn't even stolen any of his pokéballs!

" **Now dat you're awake,** **you** **better high-tail it back to do rest of da twoips."** Meowth decided. Hugo groaned as he struggled to stand up. To his surprise, Jessie and James both grabbed one of his arms each, helping him to his feet.

" **I don't get it. You helped me?"** Hugo felt a few drops of water fall from his clothing as he managed to stand up straight.

Jessie smirked an evil smirk at him. **"Don't get used to it, twerp. We may be bad guys but we do have hearts."** James piped in. **"You saved our skins once, now we're saving yours."** Meowth was next to speak up. **"Now we're even, twoip, so don't expect our help again. Next time, we'll leave you to drown."**

Hugo was very confused by the whole situation. He certainly didn't recall helping Team Rocket in any way throughout his Sinnoh journey. Just then, realisation hit him; Team Rocket must have encountered him before!

Excitedly, ideas began to race through Hugo's mind. He began to consider all the possible questions he could ask them. **"So...uh… where exactly did I save your skin?"**

Jessie looked surprised that he didn't remember, but then seemed to recall learning about his memory loss. **"Oh yes! You don't remember do you, twerp? You know, back in Kan-"** Jessie was unable to finish her sentence as some sort of attack shook their balloon.

" **Hey! Give Pikachu back right now!"** A familiar voice called from the ground below. Hugo peered over the edge of the balloon's basket. Down below, he could see Ash, Brock and Dawn running to keep up with the balloon, Ash shaking his fist in the air in anger. He then felt a bit dumb as until now he'd failed to notice the chain attached to the bottom of the basket. Dangling a few feet below them was a small cage containing a certain Electric mouse. Hugo turned back towards the Rocket trio, giving them a disapproving glare. They all smiled sheepishly. **"Oh yeah… about that..."** James scratched the back of his head. **"We thought we'd kill two birds with one stone. Doing a good deed and getting a gift for the boss at the same time!"** Hugo chuckled a little and shook his head at the persistent goons.

" **Staravia! Wing attack!"** Ash ordered. The balloon shook once again at the force of the attack. This took Hugo completely by surprise. He lost his balance, stumbling head first over the edge of the basket. **"Piplup! Bubblebeam!"** Dawn's voice commanded from below. The Water type attack hit Pikachu's cage directly, the force of it causing it to burst open. Seconds later, Hugo had some company on his way down. Pikachu was beside him, also falling head-first towards the ground. **"Pika pi!"** It cried out in fear.

In an effort to comfort the Electric mouse, Hugo reached out and pulled Pikachu closer. He wrapped his arm around it as the ground below got closer and closer. **"Ravia!"** Could be heard from above. He briefly glanced up to see Staravia desperately trying to catch up to them, but it was hopeless. It was too high up and wasn't descending fast enough.

Just as all seemed lost, yet another familiar cry could be heard. **"Loooooooon!"** Hugo then remembered that Drifloon was still out of its pokéball. It had been following Ash and co.

To his amazement, the ghost type actually seemed to know what it was doing for once. It floated below Hugo and Pikachu, a few feet above the ground. As the pair of them fell to the same height as Drifloon, Hugo used his other arm, the one not wrapped around Pikachu, to grab onto one of Drifloon's 'arms'. The Ghost type struggled with his weight and began to descend, but their fall had been slowed significantly. With Hugo and Pikachu no longer falling head-first, they hit the ground at a safe speed, Hugo landing on his feet with Pikachu still safely in his arm.

As they hit the ground, Hugo heard an explosion from above. He didn't even need to look up to know what it was. **"We're blasting off again!"** Three voices wailed.

" **Pika pika pi!"** Pikachu gave a wide smile to Hugo in thanks, before bolting over to its trainer who was sprinting towards them to reunite himself with his Electric partner.

" **Hugo! You saved Pikachu! I can't thank you enough!"** Ash looked delighted as Pikachu leapt into his arms. He gave it a big hug. Dawn and Brock caught up to him from behind.

" **We thought we'd lost you! We tried to help you but me and Ash don't have any water types, and Dawn didn't realise what was going on until too late."** Brock explained. **"What happened? All we saw was Drifloon carrying Hippopotas to safety..."**

Hugo looked up to the sky and smiled. **"Let's just say I got a little help from above."** Drifloon floated down to its trainer and he began to stroke it on the head. It was the real hero of the day.

Ash gave off a huge goofy grin. **"Well it's great to have you back! Now that we've helped out Hippopotas, who else wants to put all this behind us and go get something to eat?"** As he spoke, Ash's stomach gave off a loud grumble. The gang all laughed. **"Sure. Sounds great!"** Hugo smiled. He was feeling hungry.

" **Great! I know a poffin store nearby! Let's go!"** Dawn eagerly lead the way, as the guys all began to follow behind.

" **Hippo?"** A voice grabbed their attention from behind. **"Huh?"** Ash and the gang all turned. **"Hippopotas? We already returned you to your herd. What's going on?"**

" **Hip hip hippo!"** Hippopotas explained. It strolled over to Hugo,

rubbing its head against his leg and seemingly enjoying it.

Dawn grinned at him. **"Hugo! I think Hippopotas has decided it would rather come with you instead!"** **"After all, you were the one who saved it."** Brock added.

Hugo stared at the Hippo-Pokémon at his feet. **"Hippopotas? Wouldn't you rather be with your herd?" "Hip hip hippo!"** It replied happily.

" **I think Hippopotas is trying to say** **it would prefer to go on an adventure."** Brock guessed.

" **Huh, well in that case, you can come with me Hippopotas. And don't worry, we can come back and visit your herd any time you want!"** **"Hip hip hippo!"** The Ground type looked delighted to be accepted into the group.

Hugo selected a pokéball from his belt, tapping it on Hippopotas's head. It released a bubble from its mouth at the last second before it transformed into red energy and became comfortably encapsulated inside the ball. The bubble floated up and popped in Ash and Pikachu's face.

* * *

" **Well I guess what goes around comes around."** Brock chuckled, carefully carrying Pikachu on his shoulder. **"It's Hippopotas's way of saying thanks. It thinks Ash deserves a nice rest."** Dawn giggled.

" **Yeah…** **but w-why can't w-we… wait for h-him to wake up… before continuing?"** Hugo panted as he carried the sleeping Ash in his arms.

Dawn and Brock burst out into laughter. **"Because it wouldn't be any fun that way!"** Teased Dawn as she increased her walking pace to make things more difficult.

Hugo stopped for a moment and groaned. **"Next time I go on a journey to find out who I am, I'm finding some companions who don't weigh as much..."** He then continued his struggle to keep up, much to the amusement of the others.

* * *

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Aipom, Staravia, Turtwig, Pikachu**

 **Brock – Happiny, Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Dawn – Pachirisu, Buneary, Buizel, Piplup**

 **Hugo – Drifloon, Kabutops, Hippopotas, Shinx**

 **Shinx's known moves: Flamethrower, Thunder, Vine whip**


	10. Team Rocket Make A Splash

**(Note: This chapter is based around the time of episode 65 from the actual anime, just before Ash's 3rd Gym challenge.)**

 **I don't have the honour of owning Pokémon.**

* * *

" **Dusclops! Use shadow ball!"**

" **Now's our chance! Finish it with flamethrower!"**

(We join our heroes as Hugo is engaged in battle with a young man who challenged him to a 3 on 3 battle, after easily defeating Drifblim when it wouldn't seem to use any moves, the trainer is feeling the wrath of Hugo's mysterious Shinx.)

As Hugo commanded, a powerful stream of flames escaped Shinx's mouth, completely annihilating the incoming shadow ball and taking out Dusclops at the same time.

" **Dusclops is unable to battle. The winner is Shinx!"** Brock announced.

" **Yeah! Go Shinx! Pika pi!"** Ash, Pikachu and Dawn cheered in the background.

" **WAAAA?! That's crazy! That Pok** **é** **mon knows some weird moves man!"** The youngster, who looked around the same age as Ash, was dressed in a light blue hoodie, yellow trainers and of course black shorts. As he'd explained, they're comfy and easy to wear.

Hugo smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. **"Yeah, I did warn you about that. Sorry."**

The teenage boy, in his youth, seemed to quickly get over his surprise.

" **No sweat, we can still win. Go** **Bronzor!"** He launched a pokéball, revealing a Pokémon unfamiliar to Ash, Dawn or Hugo.

" **Huh? What's that Pok** **é** **mon?"** Dawn wondered, standing a few feet behind Brock, next to Ash.

" **I've heard of** **it** **. Bronzor is a steel and psychic type. I believe it has the ability heatproof,** **weakening the effect of** **fire type attacks."** Brock explained.

Hugo overheard his explanation. **"Well in that case, come back and have a rest Shinx."** He returned Shinx to its pokéball. **"It's time to see what you can do. Hippopotas let's do this!"** He launched the pokéball containing his newest team member.

" **Hippo hippo!"** It announced upon appearing. It looked excited for its first battle. **"Now let's start this with yawn!"** He ordered. Hippopotas launched a bubble towards Bronzor.

The youngster smiled. **"Bronzor! Safeguard!"** A bright light enveloped Bronzor briefly. The bubble popped in its face, but it seemed unaffected.

" **Smart move. Safeguard protects the user's team from status conditions. Yawn won't bother Bronzor now!"** Brock explained to Ash and Dawn.

" **Well we'll just have to use brute force then. Use bite!" "Hippo hippo!"** Hippopotas launched itself at Bronzor, grabbing it with its large mouth.

 **"** **Iron defense!"** The youngster called out. Bronzor's metal body seemed to become shinier. The Pokémon seemed unfased by the move being used on it. **"Now shake it off!"** Bronzor easily shook off Hippopotas, launching it at the ground.

" **Get up and use take down!"** Hugo ordered. Hippopotas leaped to its feet, launching itself once again at Bronzor.

" **Use confusion!"** The youngster commanded. Before the hippo Pokémon could make contact, it was stopped midair and launched back towards the ground. When it got back to its feet, it was wandering around aimlessly muttering **"Po hip hippo.."**

" **Oh no!"** Ash exclaimed. **"It's been confused! This isn't good."**

" **Now Bronzor! Use gyro ball!"** Bronzor began spinning faster and faster, until it began to spin towards Hippopotas. In its confused state, it was unable to move out of the way. The attack hit head on. Hippopotas was launched backwards. After a few seconds laid on the ground, it struggled to its feet, clearly in pain but at least its confusion seemed to be gone.

 **"Alright!"** The youngster raised a fist triumphantly while Bronzor turned to its trainer smiling, hoping to be praised.

" **They've let their guard down. Now's our chance! Use sand tomb!"** Hippopotas began to create a large pile of sand. It was building up, about to reach where Bronzor was floating.

 **"Alright! A super effective move! This could be the decisive attack!"** Brock announced excitedly.

At the last second, Bronzor began to float a little higher, avoiding the attack.

 **"WHAT?! How did it avoid while it wasn't even looking?!"** Hugo was confused.

Ash was busy reading something on his pokedéx. **"Says here Bronzor has two possible abilities; flameproof and levitate."**

Upon hearing this, an intense blush appeared on Brock's face. **"Oops! My bad!"** He grinned sheepishly. In the background, Dawn and Piplup both face-palmed at the same time.

" **Haha! Nice try!"** The youngster had a big smirk on his face. **"But now it's time to finish this. Bronzor, use-"**

Before he was able to finish the command, a large claw swooped down from the air. In one swift movement it grabbed Bronzor, then Hippopotas, Piplup and finally Pikachu.

 **"Heeheeheeheehee!"** Familiar laughter could be heard from above. Ash was the first to realise what was happening.

" **Ugh! Don't you guys ever take the day off?!"** He called up to the large humanoid robot that was looming over them. It was your standard giant robot; twenty feet tall with extendable claws for arms, coloured black with a large red 'R' on its chest. Instead of a head was a sort of small glass dome. Inside stood three figures; a pink haired woman, blue haired man and cat-like Pokémon.

" **Listen! Is that a whining twerp's voice I hear?"**

" **We've never had a day off in our entire career!"**

" **On the wind!"**

" **Past the stars!"**

" **In your ear!"**

" **Evil never rests, I thought you knew."**

" **Though I wouldn't mind some time off, would you?"**

" **We've not missed a chapter since chapter one."**

" **But who needs a rest when your job is so fun?"**

" **Jessie!"**

" **James!"**

" **Meowth, now dat's a name!"**

" **Working double overtime without extra pay!"**

" **We're Team Rocket, and we're here every day!"**

" **Wooooooooooobbuffet!" "Mime mine!"**

The trio finished their motto, and began speaking normally. **"You know what? The twerp's right. We should totally ask the boss for some time off every now and then."** Jessie mused.

 **"Actually, I do feel a little overworked at times. Perhaps we should inquire to HQ next time we're there?"** James agreed.

" **That's it! The next region we follow the twerp through, we'll get some regular time off, then we can finally stop appearing in every episode!"** Jessie announced with delight.

" **Hey, give Pikachu and the others back right now!"** Ash demanded.

" **Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it, twerp?"** Jessie teased.

Ash launched a pokéball containing his new Pokémon. **"** **Chimchar! I choose you! Use flame wheel!"**

Chimchar looked happy to be battling for its new trainer, It began to create a wheel of fire and launched itself towards the robot.

 **"Not so fast, twoip! Take a load of this!"** Meowth taunted, pushing a big red button from within the robot. As he did, a large cannon appeared at the top of the robot's back, similar to a Blastiose. It then became more noticeable that the robot had a huge tank of water attached to its back. It began shooting water at Chimchar. The fire type was drenched and its flame put out before it was able to attack the robot.

" **Hehehe! What do you guys think of my** **robo-hydro-** **cannon?"** Meowth grinned at his teammates.

" **It's a great way to dampen the twerp's spirits!"** Decided James.

" **Ah, I sea what you did dere."** Replied Meowth.

" **Water you waiting for Meowth? Let's get out of here before the twerps send a stream of attacks at us."** Jessie interrupted.

 **"** **Oh cry me a river!"** Meowth snapped. **"I'm absolutely shore dere's no wave dose twoips can beat dis robot."** Jessie, Meowth and Wobbuffet began to rejoice.

" **Um, guys, I hate to rain on your parade while you're having a whale of a time..."** Began James **"But look at the twerp!"** He pointed towards Ash, who was climbing up one of the robot's legs to try and save his Pokémon.

The Rocket trio began to panic. **"Quick Meowth!"** Jessie demanded. **"Make this thing dance or something!"** Meowth began frantically pressing buttons with no idea what half of them did. The robot began to flail its arms and legs around frantically. Its claw opened up, releasing the captured Pokémon. In the process, Ash was launched off. He and all the captured Pokémon (besides Bronzor who merely floated down) were flung through the air, landing safely on Hugo's back.

" **Hippo hippo! Pika pi! Pilup pip!"** They rejoiced at their safe landing.

 **"Oh no! Are you ok** **ay** **Hugo?"** Brock inquired to his friend who was laid on the floor as Ash and the Pokémon were on top of him.

 **"** **N-no..."** he managed to mutter.

Dawn looked concerned… for a whole second, until she was happy to see Piplup waddling over to her. She then turned her attention over to the robot looming over them. **"You guys are gonna pay for this!"** She fumed.

" **Piplup! Use whirlpool!"** She ordered.

" **Bronzor! Use psywave!"** The youngster chimed in.

" **Chimchar flame wheel! And Pikachu thunderbolt!"** Ash leaped to his feet and finished the commands, while Brock helped the still disoriented Hugo to his feet too.

" **Hehe, this thing'll survive an attack like that no problem."** Meowth smirked confidently.

As all of the attacks made contact, the robot had clearly sustained heavy damage. Its water cannon dropped off, spilling water everywhere.

" **Um, Meowth… you sure about that?"** Jessie asked with fear in her voice.

" **NO! DIS THINGS'S GONNA BLOW!"** Meowth threw his arms in the air in panic as he realised he shouldn't have been so confident.

Seconds later, the robot exploded, launching the trio and Wobbuffet high into the air.

 **"Well the plan may have failed, but how would you rate my robot? Scores out of 10?"** Meowth asked calmly despite how they were flying through the air.

" **Hmm, I'd give it about a 7.8."** Jessie replied. **"Yeah, too much water."** James agreed. The trio then continued to soar into the distance. **"We're blasting off again!"** They wailed together.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the huge amount of water that the robot had stored had hit the ground. Since Ash and the gang were standing on a hill, the water began to flow across the field. The flow of water was quickly approaching them.

 **"Well it was nice meeting you guys!"** The youngster called across. **"Kadabra, come out and use teleport!"** He summoned his Pokémon and quickly disappeared, presumably to somewhere not too far away, as teleport could only move humans a hundred yards or so.

" **Eek!"** Dawn squealed. She ducked down and grabbed onto Piplup.

 **"Chimchar return!"** Ash returned his vulnerable fire type in the last moment. **"Buizel! I choose you!"** He sent out his newly traded Pokémon and grabbed onto its back, facing the oncoming wave in anticipation.

 **"Hippopotas, quick, come back!"** Hugo just barely returned his ground type within seconds of the water hitting. He grabbed Kabutops's pokéball, but a thought suddenly sprung to his mind. 'Brock!' He thought. Brock didn't have a water type, he was going to be overwhelmed by all the water. He looked around frantically. In all the commotion, Brock had ended up standing around fifteen metres away. He had a frightened expression on his face as he stared at the large quantity of flowing water headed for him.

On instinct, Hugo launched his Pokéball accurately, getting it to land right at Brock's feet. He began to sprint the short distance over to Brock, who realised what was happening. He turned to look at Hugo, shaking his head as if to say 'You should have worried about yourself, not me.' At that moment, the water hit them. Dawn held on to Piplup, Ash onto Buizel and Brock to Kabutops. Hugo dove towards his Kabutops desperate to grab hold before the water collided with them, but he was unsuccessful. His body was submerged underwater, making him unable to breathe. Kabutops, Buizel and Piplup all managed to swim to the top of the wave, with Brock, Ash and Dawn, holding on. Pikachu held on tight to Ash's shoulder. As they were on a field, the wave only travelled a short distance before it lost its momentum and was absorbed by the grass below.

Several moments later, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, Buizel, Piplup and Kabutops were all dripping wet, but due to the three water type's excellent swimming ability, they'd been able to avoid being launched into any trees or other dangerous objects. **"Thanks for that Kabutops, but have you seen Hugo?"** Brock asked in a concerned tone. Kabutops merely held out its claws as if to say 'No, how could I have?'

" **O** **h no! Guys look over here!"** Dawn called to Ash and Brock. As they walked over it became clear that, at the bottom of the hill, there was a large cliff. **"Oh no, do you guys think he could have-"** Ash began. **"We better find a way down there, fast!"** Brock yelled, beginning to look around for some sort of way down.

* * *

 **Age is complicated in the Pokémon world. The 'Youngster' in this chapter is around 18 years old, as I said before, the idea of a kid travelling the world alone just sounds stupid to me. Anyone described as an 'adult' can be assumed to be in the age range of 25-60, otherwise they will be described as a 'young' or 'old' person. If a character is described as a 'kid' that means they're younger than 17 and therefore not yet old enough to be a trainer in my story.**

 **In case you missed it, once again here's the official age (or age range) for every notable character in this story:**

 **Ash – 18**

 **Dawn – 17**

 **Brock – 23**

 **Hugo – 19**

 **Jessie/James – Late Twenties**

 **Officer Jenny/ Nurse Joy – Around 30**

 **And if you've bothered to read this far I'll give you a little insight; after next chapter, one of Ash's past companions will be making a return. If you remember the DP anime well enough, you'll know who it is.**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash – Chimchar, Gligar, Turtwig, Staravia, Buizel, Pikachu (A full team, yay!)**

 **Dawn – Buneary, Pachirisu, Aipom, Piplup**

 **Brock – Happiny, Sudowoodo, Croagunk**

 **Hugo – Kabutops, Hippopotas, Drifblim, Shinx**


	11. Is This Real Life Or Just Fantasy?

**There seems to be a huge argument about whether Pokémon names should be capitalised. I've looked into it, and you SHOULD capitalise the name of a species (E.g. German Shepherd) hence why I've been doing so for different species of Pokémon. Technically, the word 'Pokémon' shouldn't be capitalised as it's just a general term (like the word 'animals') but as I've realised this too late and am far too lazy to go back and edit previous chapters, I'm just gonna stick to using capital P for consistency's sake. Anyway, enough with the English lesson and on with the fic!**

 **I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

" **Ugh…** **where am I?"** Hugo struggled to his feet, looking around. He must have been unconscious for a while. It was dark, but he seemed to be in a cave. He could see the entrance in the distance, with light entering from it.

" **Wait – we were on a hilly field. How did I end up in a cave?"** He scratched his head, confused.

Feeling around on his belt, he felt five pokéballs in his possession, two of which he knew were empty. He panicked for a moment, before remembering he'd left Kabutops with Brock. He sighed a sigh of relief. Speaking of Brock, where was he? In fact, where was anyone?

" **Confused, young one?"** An unfamiliar voice spoke calmly from somewhere close.

Hugo flinched. **"Who's there?!"** He demanded.

" **Now now, remember your manners. You could at least say hello before demanding answers from me."** The voice seemed to chuckle.

Hugo didn't feel safe. **"Shinx, let's do this!"** He launched the Shinx's pokéball, summoning the electric type. **"Use flamethrower on the ceiling."** He ordered. Shinx did as it was told. As the flames began to appear from its mouth, Hugo took advantage of the temporary light source to look around the cave. It appeared to be empty besides a few rocks and the presence of one other; standing ten feet away, at what appeared to be the back of the cave, was a very old looking man. He had a bold head, with a grey pointy beard on his chin. He wore a white robe all the way from his shoulders to the floor, and his green eyes gave Hugo a warm feeling inside as they made eye contact. He appeared short in stature, maybe a little over five feet tall. His head seemed too small for his body, but Hugo didn't dare comment on his appearance. The man had a very calm expression; a hint of a smile, and completely unfased by the fact that a Shinx had just used flamethrower. Hugo couldn't take his eyes off this man, he didn't know how but he got the feeling he was over a hundred years old. Shinx's flamethrower eventually came to an end, and the cave returned to almost total darkness.

" **A wise choice."** The man commented. **"Using fire to light up the dark. That is one of many reasons why fire is my favourite type."** His voice sounded so calm that Hugo couldn't help but stop worrying about his safety, there was no way this man had bad intentions.

" **Well, uh, it was nice meeting you, but you see me and Shinx need to get back to our friends."** Hugo replied nervously as he jogged over to the cave entrance. As he got closer it became brighter, but it also became clear that the entrance to this cave was halfway up a cliff. How did they end up here?! At that moment, Hugo realised something else. None of his clothes were even slightly damp, despite the events from earlier. Had he been knocked out long enough for his clothes to dry or was this that strange man's doing? Hugo got the feeling it was the latter.

" **Why are you in such a hurry, child? You do not wish to speak with me?"** The man spoke slowly but clearly. Hugo wanted to point out that he was an adult, but compared to the man he felt more like a baby. **"I** **just wanted to find my friends, but I guess we're stuck here.** **"** He explained to the old man as he and Shinx wandered back towards the back of the cave, partly to speak with the old man, and partly because it was strangely warmer back there.

" **If what you say is true and we are indeed stuck, how about we play a little game to pass the time?"** The old man suggested. As he said the word 'time' his voice seemed to echo around the cave much more than usual.

Hugo got the feeling he didn't have a choice in the matter. **"Sure. What did you have in mind?** **Don't suppose you have a pack of cards** **and a few torches?** **"**

" **How about a little** **quiz?"** The man suggested. **"And if you pass..."** His tone changed to a whisper. **"...There might just be a reward."** This caught Hugo's attention. He got the feeling this man knew something about him that he himself didn't know.

" **Sure. I'll take on your quiz. Bring it on."**

" **G** **ood** **."** The old man's voice sounded happy.

" **Now let us begin; question one: If I were to raise my Eevee lovingly during the day, into what would it change?"**

" **Easy."** Hugo answered. **"It would evolve into Espeon."** When he lost his memory, he had retained all his prior knowledge of Pokémon.

" **Correct."** The old man responded. **"** **Ah, Espeon. Its psychic abilities can be used to detect minute changes in the air. This enables them to predict the weather. This is one of many reasons the psychic type is my favourite type."**

" **Huh? I thought you said fire was your favourite type?"** Hugo asked, puzzled.

The old man chuckled. **"My boy, all types are my favourites. All eighteen of them."**

Hugo was even more puzzled by the answer. **"But aren't there only seventeen types?"**

Once again, the old man chuckled. **"Ah, for now yes. But you will soon see, my boy.** **Now onto the next question; question two: if I have in my possession a stone of thunder, can you name** **one pssible** **use for it?"**

" **To evolve a Pikachu?"** Hugo answered.

" **Correct. Ah, Pikachu. The pouches in their cheeks allow them to store an impressive amount of electricity. This is one reason why Pikachu is my favourite Pokémon."**

 **"Let me guess, all Pok** **é** **mon are your favourite?"** Hugo asked as he rolled his eyes.

" **Almost all."** The man replied. **"There are some, let's say… special cases... But enough about that. Question three..."  
**

* * *

Ash, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu, Piplup and Kabutops had been searching for Hugo now for over an hour. They were getting very worried. To make things worse, it was getting dark and had started to rain.

" **Come on guys, we're gonna have to call it a night and continue searching in the morning!"** Brock announced as they were dashing towards the nearest Pokémon centre for shelter.

 **"But what if Hugo's in danger?"** Ash asked, worried.

A big smile grew on Dawn's face. **"** **No need to worry guys. This is Hugo we're talking about. He always seems to end up okay."**

" **You're right Dawn. And remember, he's got Shinx with him. If anything were to attack him, I'm sure he could fight them off no problem."** Brock reassured everyone.

" **Alright then, we'll rest up for tonight and continue our search first thing in the morning!"** Ash announced, until his stomach rumbled. **"Okay, after breakfast."** He decided, and everyone laughed at him.

* * *

" **The answer is Geodude."** Hugo stated, trying to hide the boredom in his voice. **"Correct. Ah Geodude, I'll tell you what I love about Geodude..."** The old man began. Hugo was incredibly bored. He'd been doing this 'quiz' for hours. They'd been in an almost pitch black cave the whole time, so he didn't even have anything to look at. Shinx had fallen asleep for several hours and was now awake again, but still the man droned on. All of his questions had been easy, basic stuff any trainer would know; Hugo had gotten every question correct. But the frustrating thing was, after every question he always felt the need to give an opinion or tell a story about a certain Pokémon. After question twenty six he spent ten minutes blabbering on about Shroomish, but that was nothing comapred to the half an hour long lecture he'd given about Ponyta after question eighty seven.

" **...And that's what make** **s** **Geodude my favourite Pok** **é** **mon."** The old man finally finished.

 **"Question one hundred and fifty one, the final question."** Hugo had never felt so relieved in his life, or at least the portion of his life he could remember. He'd answered one hundred and fifty questions correctly, surely he could answer one more.

" **Who is your greatest ally?"**

Hugo flinched. He was expecting something more like 'what does Caterpie evolve into?' not this! He thought for a while. **"Um...my greatest ally…uh..."** He thought about everyone he'd met on his journey: Team Rocket? They did save his life that one time, they seemed to treat him better than Ash and the others, but they weren't his greatest ally. Then he had his travelling companions; his three best friends: Ash, Dawn and Brock. Maybe it was them?

Just then, Hugo felt something at his feet. He quickly realised it must have been Shinx rubbing itself against him, using him to help scratch its itch. Hugo smiled. How did he even need to think about it?

" **My greatest ally** **-** **that's got to be Shinx."** He answered confidently.

Expecting to be told he was right, a large grin appeared on Hugo's face as he leant down to stroke his electric partner. After a long, slightly awkward silence at last the man spoke.

" **So that is how you see things? Your logic is that your greatest ally is the one who has spent more time with you than anyone else?"**

Upon hearing those words, Hugo began to doubt himself. Sure, Shinx was a great friend and ally, but how could he be sure of his 'greatest' ally when he couldn't remember the majority of his life? What if he'd only recently acquired Shinx? What if he'd had an ally there alongside him all the way through his life until now? He began to feel an overwhelming sadness. Everyone he'd known, bonded with, even those he'd loved; they were all forgotten. He couldn't remember a single thing about his past. It made him feel terrible.

" **I will allow you to reconsider your answer."** The old man interrupted his thoughts.

Hugo didn't know what to do. He was starting to panic but then…

 **"Hugo?!"**

That was a voice – a female voice. It sounded like Dawn's.

" **Hugo, where are you?!"**

He definitely didn't imagine that one. It sounded like Brock's voice calling him. Were his friends nearby?

" **Staravia! Gligar! I choose you! Search everywhere you can!"**

Hugo only knew one person who owned a Staravia and a Gligar. That was Ash's voice. He was certain of it. The wind seemed to carry their voices into the cave. Hugo thought hard. A part of him wanted to run to the edge of the cave, screaming and waving his arms to get their attention. But for some reason, that isn't what he did.

" **I get it now."** He spoke calmly, in the same tone the old man had been using all night.

" **That question – it was rhetorical. My greatest ally isn't any one Pok** **é** **mon or person. It's everyone. Everyone who ever helped me or supported me in any way. They all did their part to get me to where I am today. There can't really be any one 'greatest ally' because if you removed even one person from my life, that would change everything."** Hugo had to catch his breathe a little after finishing his answer.

Another long, awkward silence filled the room. For a moment, Hugo began to feel that he was wrong once again. Eventually, the old man spoke, and his tone sounded somewhat happier.

" **You learn quickly, child. And now the quiz comes to an end. As promised, I will give you a reward. You may ask me one question; it can be about anything at all."**

Hundreds of thoughts began racing through Hugo's mind at once. Any question? Should he ask who the man is? How he got there? Then an idea sprang to his mind. It sounded ridiculous. How could the man possibly know the answer to that? But it was worth a shot, even if there was only a tiny chance…

" **My question is this: Two of my parnters, Shinx and Kabutops, they remember something, important things that I really need to know, I'm sure of it. Of course, I can understand when my Pokémon want something, but I don't speak their language. Is there any way you could tell me what they know?"**

Hugo felt silly. He was 99% sure his response would be something like 'How should I know kid? You've wasted your question, you idiot.' Instead, he was stunned by his response.

" **I can do better than that.** **When you leave, I'll show you. And don't worry, you'll soon be back to your friends; the heroic trainer with his loyal Pikachu, the kind and wise breeder on constant search for romance, and the lovely female coordinator, your future wife..."**

" **WHAT?!"** Hugo quickly interrupted.

The old man chuckled **"Hohoho, I'm only teasing young one. It's been a long time since I've been able to have a good laugh."** Hugo wondered what he meant by 'I'll show you' and how he knew so much about his friends, but before he got the chance to ask the cave began to light up. However, when it became light enough to see, Hugo felt very confused. It appeared they weren't in a cave at all. They appeared to be in a secluded little valley at the bottom of a mountain. Was that Mount Coronet?

" **Shi-Shinx."** Shinx nudged his leg, trying to grab his attention. He immediately felt relieved that his partner was still with him. If this was a dream, he was glad to be sharing it.

He turned to see what Shinx wanted, and what he saw almost left him lost for words.

" **Th-that's us!"** He exclaimed, his mouth wide open from shock.

Indeed, standing right in front of them were a young man who looked exactly like Hugo, although not as muscular. He wore the same clothing, with a Shinx at his feet. Hugo had been with his Shinx long enough to tell it apart from other Shinx by noticing minor differences, and this was definitely the same Shinx. He stared at what must have been himself… from the past? Past Hugo didn't appear to notice present Hugo despite him standing only a few feet away. Past Hugo knelt down, and quietly released a Pokémon from one of his pokéballs.

" **I'm really sorry buddy."** He spoke in a hushed tone. **"You heard it. Professor Rowan can't take you in. It looks like I haven't got any choice..."**

Present Hugo flinched. What was his past self doing? Why did he look so sad?

Past Hugo continued. **"I can only hope we meet again some day, though I can't promise anything. I really hope you can find somewhere to call home, at least for a while."** Past Hugo, past Shinx and Kabutops all looked devastated to the point of being near tears.

Past Hugo stood up straight, managing the faintest smile. **"I know you like it at the Oreburgh museum. They won't let you stay there more than two weeks after being restored, but I'm sure they'd let you play with the other prehistoric Pok** **émon every now and then."**

Past Hugo and Kabutops stared at each other, sharing an emotional moment. Eventually, Kabutops nodded understandingly. It began to walk away in the opposite direction. Past Hugo turned to look at past Shinx. They both frowned at each other. **"Sorry buddy, you'll have to go back in the pokéball. Who knows what would happen if you were seen..."** He returned his partner, lowering his backpack onto the floor. Present Hugo didn't recognise this backpack, he'd obviously lost it at some point before/during his memory loss.

Out of the bag he pulled a large black hoodie. Large enough even for someone of his height. He then pulled out some long black leggings. He quickly put both of them on over his clothing. When he was done, it was difficult to tell who it was. When he put his hood up, he did his best to conceal his own face so that he couldn't possibly be recognised. He muttered something to himself. **"From now on, nobody finds out who I am..."** He began to climb up the steep cliff to get out of the valley. Hugo and Shinx from the present stared at each other in disbelief. **"What's going on? Why didn't I want anyone to see me?"** Before their very eyes, everything once again faded away into dark. Hugo could only assume this was a vision given to them by the old man and it was now over. When everything had gone completely pitch black, it remained that way for a few seconds until light once again began to form around them.

The first thing Hugo saw surprised him; that town he'd seen in that dream a while back, it was there in the distance! They were at the top of a large, long hill but surely enough, at the bottom no more than a mile away was that same town. Sadly, though, it was too far away to make out if anyone was there, and Hugo assumed if there was anyone they wouldn't be able to see him anyway.

" **Shinx! Shinx!"** Once again, Shinx nudged him to grab his attention, but this time it was even more urgent. If Hugo had been surprised before, the scene he now saw before him left him absolutely flabbergasted!

Around a hundred feet behind them was something that caused Hugo and Shinx to shiver from fear. There was a large portal, rather circular with a radius of at least five feet. Hugo never actually saw the portal that brought himself and Shinx to lake verity, but he'd listened to Dawn's description of it and this fit it perfectly. The next thing he noticed was standing right next to him, close enough to reach out and touch. There was a huge dinosaur-like Pokémon with its back to the portal, glaring angrily at something. It was breathing heavily as if it had been fighting. Hugo identified it as a Tyranitar. When he glanced over to see what it was glaring at, he saw a familiar scene. He recalled that dream he'd had a while back; the same evil figure was glaring down at him from a higher position on the hill. They were still obscured by darkness, the only facial feature visible was an evil grin. By their side were four others. Furthest left was the same giant, evil looking creature Hugo had seen in the aforementioned dream; it appeared to have large black wings and a giant head, but he couldn't make out anything else due to its body being obscured by darkness. The other three figures were all Pokémon of different types. On the left of the evil figure stood a Magmortar and a Tangrowth. On the right was a Luxio. All three of them were glaring at Hugo, Shinx and Tyranitar, breathing heavily. They must have been battling.

Before Hugo had any time to think about the situation he was in, the evil figure pointed directly at him. The three Pokémon, who must have belonged to the figure, launched their attacks. Magmortar used flamethrower, Tangrowth used vine whip and Luxio summoned some clouds in the air, appearing to be about to use thunder.

As the attacks approached, Tyranitar stepped forwards with a grimace on its face. Several light blue rings appeared around its body. Then, the rings glowed white and turned into chunks of grey stone. Its eyes glowed yellow as the stones were shot towards the incoming attacks. The flamethrower, thunder and vine whip collided head on with Tyranitar's attack.

Then out of the corner of his eye, Hugo noticed the other creature making its move. Just like in his dream, a wave of darkness was shot towards Tyranitar. It was about to collide with it when something got in the way – at the last moment, Shinx had leaped in front of Tyranitar. The wave of darkness now surrounded it, so Hugo couldn't see his electric partner any more. Desperate to help, he ran towards the strange attack which had consumed his partner. As he got close enough he reached out to touch the wave, the instant he did so the wave of darkness broke into many smaller waves and shot away at high speed in several directions. At the same time, Shinx once again became visible. The electric type was flung through the air, surely from the impact of the attack. Its body hit Hugo in the chest, and due to its high speed the momentum of the collision swept Hugo off his feet. The two of them shot back through the air, Team Rocket style. Hugo managed to land on his feet, holding Shinx close to his chest. Unfortunately, though, the portal was now only around fifteen feet behind them. He tried to walk further away, but a strange force seemed to be dragging him towards it. Despite all his efforts, he was gradually being pulled closer and closer.

" **Come on buddy, back in your pokéball."** He ordered Shinx, not wanting his partner to be sucked into the portal with him. Shinx gave a look of defiance when it was transformed into red energy and sucked into its ball.

With the strange force getting stronger, Hugo's feet were sliding backwards faster and faster, he was now only ten feet away. At that moment, he heard a loud cry. **"TYRANITAR!"** The rock and dark type came sprinting over to Hugo, looking very concerned. Hugo got the feeling this Tyranitar knew him well. It stood very close to him, but since it was so heavy Hugo wasn't surprised when it didn't seem to be being pulled in like Hugo was.

Suddenly, a strong feeling came over Hugo. He glanced down at the six pokéballs on his belt. He knew the one furthest left was Shinx's, but what about the one next to it? He quickly grabbed the second pokéball.

" **This is your ball isn't it?"** Hugo stretched out his arm towards Tyranitar with the ball in his palm. **"** **It's too dangerous. They outnumber you. You need to get back in your ball."** Hugo felt overwhelming concern for Tyranitar. **"Come on Tyranitar, retu-"** As Hugo was pressing the button on the pokéball to return his pokémon, the rock and dark type gave him a brief, confident smile. It swiftly turned around, its tail colliding with Hugo's arm, knocking the ball out of his hand and sending it rolling down the hill away from the portal.

Hugo realised what was happening. Tyranitar wanted to protect him until the very end. It gave out a ferocious roar. **"TYRANITAR!"** Then began charging up a hyper beam attack, desparate to protect its trainer until the very end. Tyranitar was a smart pokémon. It obviously wanted to grab Hugo and carry him away, but in doing so he'd be exposed to an onslaught of attacks from Luxio, Magmortar and Tangrowth. Its only option was to guard him from any incoming attacks while the portal sucked him in.

The pulling force was getting even stronger. Hugo was doing his best to walk forwards and resist, but he was definitely moving backwards. The portal was almost within touching distance now. He might've been forgiven for only worrying about himself at that point, but one last thought came to the young trainer's mind before he was sucked in. He grabbed the furthest right pokéball from his belt with his right hand and passed it into his left which was his stronger arm.

 **"Thanks for everything guys. Time for you to find new trainers to care** **of** **you."** He launched the pokéball as far as he could to his left down the hill with the village at the bottom. He hoped it would roll down and be found by some kind-hearted trainer who could take care of the Pokémon within. One by one, he did the same thing for the next three pokéballs until the only one remaining on his belt was the one containing Shinx. He grabbed it and held his arm in the air, preparing to throw. As he did so, the back of his heel finally touched the portal behind. His feet were lifted of the ground and he began to be sucked into the portal feet first. With his arms still free he launched Shinx's pokeball as far as he could. As it left his hand, before he was completely inside the portal, he could see a stream of red energy flowing out from the pokéball. The energy began to form the shape of a small, four-legged pokémon. As much as he hated it, there was nothing Hugo could do to stop his Pokémon from leaping out of its pokéball by choice. The last thing he saw as he was completely sucked in was his faithful electric partner falling back into the portal with him. In the background, the heroic Tyranitar could be seen tanking attack after attack from the three opposing Pokémon, as the mysterious large dragon-like creature floated in the air, completely still, observing the scene before it alongside the equally mysterious human.

* * *

" **Do you think we should find a nurse or something?"**

" **Yes! The beautiful heroic Nurse Joy can arrive to save the day, before taking my hand as we unite as the ultimate life saving couple at last! Then I will get down on my knees, hold out my hand and tell her…ow..."**

" **Cro...Cro..."  
**

 **"No need to worry you two! Look! they're waking up already!"**

Hugo's eyes slowly opened. He was lying on the some soft, damp grass. Standing over him were Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, Kabutops, Staravia, Gligar and Piplup. Brock was behind them, also lying down, with a pained expression on his face. Croagunk was standing beside him holding up its arm as though it had just jabbed him. He quickly felt down to the belt above his shorts and was relieved when there were six balls attatched.

" **Hey there sleepy head, have you been asleep all morning?"** Dawn smiled at him.

Hugo got up into a kneeling position. Looking behind him, Shinx was getting to its feet too, looking sleepy.

" **Well… I guess you could say that."** Hugo smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

" **I don't get it."** Ash began. **"Did you fall all the way down here? How come you're not hurt?"**

Looking up, Hugo saw a large cliff. They'd obviously been on top of it when the water incident occurred yesterday.

" **Well, you see, we somehow landed in that cave halfway up the cliff, so we didn't fall as far..."**

The gang stared at the cliff for a while. It was around forty feet high, with no special features visible on it.

 **"C** **ave** **? I don't see any c** **ave** **."** Brock said as he walked over. **"Me neither."** Added Dawn. **"That makes three of us."** Ash agreed.

" **B-but we were just in it, I swear..."**

Brock smiled at him. **"Hey, come on, after a fall like that you might've received a blow to the head. Why don't we stay here for a while and allow you and** **Shinx** **some time to come to your senses?"**

Hugo leaped up in defiance of being called crazy. **"Oh yeah? Well if I'm making it all up and I was asleep all this time, how did Shinx end up out of its pokéball?"**

The group stared blankly at him for a moment. **"...He does have a point."** Said Dawn, breaking the silence.

" **Also, me and Shinx have something to show you guys. I think we finally know all of its moves!"**

" **Neat! I can't wait to see it!" "Pika pika!"** Exclaimed Ash and Pikachu, who loved to see Pokémon moves.

Hugo and Shinx found some open space within the small woods that they were in to demonstrate their new attack. **"Okay Shinx, use stone edge!"** He commanded, and to everyone's delight, Shinx was able to do as it was told. Light blue rings appeared around it which quickly turned white before they turned into grey chunks of stone. Shinx's eyes glowed yellow momentarily as the stones were launched high into the air, surely if it was launched into the air if was safe to use. It couldn't hit anyone, right?

" **Wow! That's amazing!"** Dawn exclaimed. **"How did you figure that out?"**

" **I apologise Hugo, looks like** **I was wrong;** **you weren't just sleeping all this time after all."** admitted Brock. **"** **Also, I really should thank you. If you and Kabutops hadn't helped me out earlier, who knows what could've happened?"**

" **Haha, it's okay Brock, I wouldn't have believed me either. And Dawn, my swordinator friend, it's a long story."**

" **HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU PRONOUNCE A WORD WRONG?! IT'S CO-"** Dawn began to fume, until Ash interrupted. **"Well I'd love to hear all about what happened. But for now, there's something more important on my mind. It's getting close to lunch time and we haven't decided where to eat! Why don't you tell us your story while we find somewhere?"**

Hugo chuckled at his friend. **"You know guys, after what we just went through, I can't tell you how happy I am to be back."**

* * *

While this was all going on, a Meowth shaped hot air balloon was floating overhead. On board, Jessie had some paper in her hands and she didn't look happy.

" **I don't believe it!"** She fumed. **"Says here that in this chapter we don't get to recite our motto, use any sneaky tricks OR capture Pikachu."**

" **Really? That can't be! We're the author's favourite characters! Let me see that..."** James snatched the script from her hands.

" **Give it to us straight James, what** **DO** **we do in dis chapter?"** Meowth asked.

" **Hmmm..."** James examined the script more carefully. **"It says here that we only appear in the final scene.** **It's true, we don't get to recite the motto. But, ooh, we do get to blast off!"** James grinned for a moment, pleased with his findings, until realisation hit him. **"Hang on a minute, blasting off? That's not good!"**

At that moment, several grey pointy stones came flying up from below. They hit Team Rocket's balloons directly, ripping several holes in the process. The balloon began quickly spiralling out of control.

" **Unfair blast off! We demand a re-write!** " The trio wailed as they shot away into the distance.

* * *

 **Current teams:**

 **Unchanged from last chapter  
**

 **Shoutout to anyone who gets the reference in this chapter's title!**


	12. A Costly Meal

**Okay, I know, 4 weeks is a long time to make one chapter. I'm sorry. Life just got pretty busy all of a sudden. But I can pretty much guarantee that there will be at least 2 more chapters coming in April. I have the story all planned, it's just a matter of finding time to write it. Please enjoy this long overdue chapter.**

* * *

Hugo and friends had had a busy day. They'd spent the morning helping Dawn prepare for the Wallace cup which was due to start in just over a week. Then suddenly, Ash had received a phone call from Snowpoint city. Some girl around his age greeted him with a beaming smile, informing him that she was on her way to meet up with him. She wore a green bandanna, a sleeveless and short orange tunic with a black collar, black bike shorts, black socks, and red and white sneakers. He brown hair was in a double ponytail at each side of her head. Before they knew it, Ash and Brock's friend, May, had arrived to join the gang. Apparently she was also into contests and was going to enter the Wallace cup too. Hugo couldn't help but feel that she looked familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why…

(We join our heroes during a large feast at a fancy restaurant in a fancy hotel to celebrate Ash and Brock's reunion with their old friend.)

" **Yummy! Th** **is is** **delicious!"** Ash spoke with a mouthful of food. At the other side of the table, Brock and Dawn sweatdropped. The two of them were sat next to each other with reasonable portions of food. On the opposite side of the table, though, Hugo, Ash and May had piled their plates five times higher and were scoffing their meals down extremely fast. To be fair to Hugo, he was a big guy so he needed a lot of food, but that didn't really excuse his lack of table manners. Not that he cared. Pikachu occupied the final seat, which was next to Brock. It was happily gulping down a large bottle of ketchup.

Just then, a waiter approached them from behind. He looked pretty old with grey hair and a fancy looking grey moustache. He was wearing your typical waiter outfit. **"Sirs and madams, I do hope you're enjoying your meals."** He began. **"But it occurred to me that you may be interested in sampling our menu's finest item."** He placed a plate in the middle of their table. All at once, everyone stopped eating and glanced at what had been put in front of them.

 **"Wow! What is that?"** May asked.

" **Beats me but it looks delicious!"** Ash began to dig into the food presented to them. **"And it tastes even better!"**

" **This is our speciality, the golden pancake! We use only the finest top secret ingredients to create this special pancake which possesses an intriguing golden colouring."** The waiter explained.

By the time he'd finished explaining, the food was gone. All five of the gang had tried the sample food, and they all seemed to really enjoy it.

" **We'll take twenty!"** Ash exclaimed.

" **But Ash, food that good is probably expensive. Don't you think we** **should ask him how much it costs first?"** Brock asked, sounding concerned about their finances.

" **Naw, it's a special occasion. I say let's eat!"** Ash replied excitedly.

" **It was a really good pancake..."** Dawn couldn't help but want some more.

" **Yeah! Come on Brock! Treat yourself for a change!"** May insisted, obviously just wanting more food.

Brock rolled his eyes, knowing there was no point in arguing. **"Fine then..."**

" **Right away sir, your order will be with you shortly."** The waiter explained as he walked away. Out of the corner of his eye, Hugo noticed what looked like a smirk on the waiter's face, but he was probably imagining it…

" **That was delicious!"** Ash stated with satisfaction.

" **I couldn't agree more!"** Beamed Dawn.

" **I can't eat another bite..."** groaned Brock.

" **Ah, good to see you've all enjoyed your meals."** The waiter said as he walked over to them. **"And now I present you with your bill."**

" **Thanks a lot."** Hugo said as he grabbed the bill in one hand and a glass of water in the other. He took a sip of his drink and began to read the bill.

 **"** **PFFFFT!"** He spat out his water all over Dawn who immediately looked mad.

" **HOW DARE YOU GET MY CLOTHES ALL WET?! YOU APOLOGISE RIGHT NOW MISTER!"** She fumed.

" **Yeah, I'm really sorry. As an apology I'll give you a gift: this bill."** Hugo smirked as he tried to pass her the bill. **"Not like I can afford it."**

" **What do you mean you can't afford it?"** Asked Brock.

" **Here, look."** Hugo showed the bill to everyone else.

" **One thousand and six pok** **é** **dollars?! How expensive WERE those pancakes?"** Brock exclaimed.

" **One thousand and six? Oh. I must be holding it upside down."** Hugo smiled sheepishly.

" **PFFFFT!"** Ash and May both read the bill as they were taking a drink, and once again spat their water all over poor Dawn.

" **OVER NINE THOUSAND?!"** Brock cried out in shock. **"We can't possibly afford that much money. What are we gonna do?"**

" **YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST! YOU GET MY CLOTHES WET AND DON'T APOLOGISE AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET US IN BIG TROUBLE FOR EATING MEALS WE CAN'T AFFORD!"** Dawn snapped in anger.

" **Oh no! I'm so sorry Dawn! It was just a big shock, and you happened to be sat across from me."** May apologised whole heartedly.

Dawn suddenly looked calmer and a sad expression took over her face. **"I'm sorry for yelling May. It's just that I'm getting really nervous about this big conte-WAAH!"** Before Dawn could finish her sentence her chair unfortunately collapsed underneath her.

" **Great. Could this day get any worse?"** She groaned.

" **I'm afraid so madam. We do not tolerate that level of yelling in this restaurant. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."** The waiter sounded much angrier this time.

" **Hey! You can't say that to Dawn. If she's leaving I am too."** May announced as she leapt out of her seat quicker than she should have been able to with all the food she'd eaten.

" **I'm afraid not madam. The rest of you need to sort out the small matter of this bill you can't afford."** The waiter spoke in a more aggressive tone.

" **Sort it out? How can we do that?"** Ash asked.

" **Well if you can't afford to pay your bill, the four of you are going to have to work for us for a number of months until you've earned enough wage to pay your large bill.** **Like the rest of the staff, you shall be accommodated in our rooms at the back of the restaurant. Follow me and I'll explain the rest."** A large woman with a fancy suit and a fancy haircut said as she walked over. She wore a badge with the word 'MANAGER' on.

" **WHAT?! But I'm going to compete in the Sinnoh league and become a Pok** **é** **mon master! I can't be stuck working here."** Ash began to panic.

" **I'm afraid you have no choice sir. It's either that or we call the police."** The waiter sounded more aggressive than ever before.

" **Looks like we have no choice guys. Let's do as he says for now and try to find a way out of this later."** Hugo whispered to the others.

Brock looked over to Dawn and mouthed the words 'We need your help.' She nodded in understanding. There had to be a way to sort out this mess.

'No need to worry.' She mouthed back.

Everyone looked very upset about the whole situation. Just then, a hand grabbed Dawn's shoulder. **"Come on madam, time to leave."** A man muttered from behind in a deep tone.

* * *

" **I don't believe this Piplup. Ash, Hugo, Brock and May are all stuck working in that kit** **chen and I'm not even allowed to go in and speak to them. What do I do? Could this day get any worse?"** Dawn was waking down a street with Piplup on her shoulder after being escorted out of the restaurant.

" **Lup lup pip pip piplup!"** The penguin Pokémon explained.

 **"You're right Piplup! There's no** **need to worry** **. We** **can** **find a way to help the others!"** Dawn sounded more confident now.

"Lup pip pip pip!" Piplup began to wave its flippers frantically, trying to show Dawn something.

Dawn looked over at what Piplup was gesturing towards. It was a poster on the wall of a shop.

'BIG BATTLE TOURNAMENT TAKING PLACE RIGHT HERE IN GLORIOUS TOWN! Prize of 10,000 Pokédollars for the winner.' There was a picture of a woman screaming an order at a Dragonite which was charging up a hyper beam, and a man giving orders to a Garchomp which was leaping towards its opponent with its arms raised, appearing to be using dragon claw.

" **It starts…tomorrow!** **That's perfect! If I can win that tournament, I can pay for everyone's meal and save Ash and the others!"** She briefly looked cheerful, but then she frowned, looking back at Piplup on her shoulder. **"But a tournament like that is bound to have lots of tough trainers. Would we really be able to win?"** As she said this a small net swooped down, seemingly out of nowhere, narrowly missing Piplup and Dawn. It had clearly been aimed at Piplup.

" **Who's there?"** Dawn demanded as she turned around. Behind her, she saw a familiar Meowth shaped hot air balloon with three even more familiar faces inside.

" **Listen! Is that a lonely twerpette I hear?"**

" **You missed our target Meowth. Oh dear."**

" **On the wind!"**

 **"Past the stars!"**

" **In your ear!"**

" **Stealing Pokémon from up in the air!"**

" **Have you seen the rest of the twerps anywhere?"**

" **We mainly want that Pikachu!"**

" **But Piplup's a bonus, so we'll take that too.**

" **Jessie!"**

" **James!"**

 **"And Meowth's the name!"**

" **If the twerp ran away, you know we'll give chase."**

" **Because we're Team Rocket… and we're in your face!"**

" **Woooobbuffet!"**

" **Mime mime mime!"**

" **Team Rocket! Now is not a good time!"** Dawn scowled.

" **(Sigh) If we only appeared when you twerps thought it was a good time we wouldn't be very good bad guys now would we?"** Jessie stated arrogantly.

" **Look twoip, just tell us where Pikachu is and we might leave you alone."** Meowth threatened.

" **Fine! If you really want to know, Ash and Pikachu have had to take up a new job at that fancy restaurant to pay back a large debt and won't be continuing their journey for quite a while."**

" **Ha! My ears are playing tricks on me."** Jessie began. **"It sounded like you said the twerp won't be travelling any more for a while."**

" **That IS what I said."** Dawn replied, feeling a bit upset thinking about their current predicament.

The Rockets all looked at each other for a moment until they shouted in unison. **"WHAAAAAAT?!"**

" **This can't be!"** Panicked James. **"The twerp can't just give up on his dream like this!"** A tear began to form in his eye.

 **"All** **d** **ose long hard training sessions, all for no** **fink** **…"** Meowth got a tear in his eye too.

 **"A sad ending to a magnificent journey..."** James began to hug Meowth, crying.

" **Why did it have to end** **d** **is way?!"** Meowth added, hugging him back.

Just then, a hand slapped James and Meowth on the cheek in quick succession.

" **Get it together you two! The real reason this is bad is that it will make it much tougher to steal Pikachu with all the security that place has. And if they're not training then it might start to lose some of its strength, making its value lower meaning the boss will be less impressed when we steal it."** Jessie said all this very quickly without pausing for breath, leaving her out of breath when she stopped speaking.

" **We gotta do somefink about dis!"** Meowth decided.

" **I say we break into that restaurant and demand they let the twerp go!"** James clenched his fist. **"Let's go Meowth!"**

" **You got it!"** Meowth responded as the balloon began to float away in the direction of the restaurant.

Dawn stood motionless and stunned for a short time until she turned to Piplup. **"I've got a bad feeling about this. Team Rocket have a tendency to make everything worse. We need to follow them and make sure nothing bad happens."** She began to run after them.

* * *

" **Well Ash, if I'd known this would happen I wouldn't have been so eager to come and see you."** May faked a smile as she and Ash were sweeping a floor somewhere in the kitchen.

 **"Don't worry May, Dawn will find a way to help us out. I'm sure of it."** He replied confidently. **"Isn't that right buddy?"**

 **"Pika pi!"** the electric mouse replied optimistically as it used its tail to sweep some dust.

" **Oops! So sorry!"** Hugo apologised as he accidentally dropped a frying pan on a chef's foot. **"Oh no. Sorry!"** He apologised again as he spilt some sauce over another chef's uniform. **"Ooooow!"** He groaned in pain as he banged his head on the top on the doorway for the third time. **"Oh no! I'm really sorry!"** He apologised to another chef after he tripped over an open oven door, knocking the poor chef onto the ground and causing them to spill spaghetti all over their own face.

" **Wow!"** The manager commented as she watched Hugo from across the kitchen. **"You guys are gonna take a lot longer than I thought to pay back your bill at this rate."** She told Brock, who was busy cooking something nearby. **"At least those three should learn a thing or two about working in a kitchen while they're here."**

Brock sighed. **"Trust me, the only thing those three know about food is how to eat a lot of it."**

At that moment, a loud explosion could be heard as a hole appeared in the ceiling. As Brock looked up, he saw a large metal fist that had punched its way through the roof. It was attached to the bottom of Team Rocket's balloon. Brock sighed heavily.

" **What's going on!?" Who dares to attack my restaurant?!"** The manager demanded.

" **Twerps! We're here to save you!"** James's voice called from above. **"** **Come with us! We can take you far away from here, free from the people forcing you to stay!"**

" **We'll personally fly you to all da gyms you ain't reached yet and den to da league itself!"** Meowth added.

" **And all we ask for in return is your Pikachu."** Jessie concluded.

" **Team Rocket! You know what my response to that will be!"** Ash angrily responded.

" **Hey you! How dare you cause damage to my restaurant like that! And you're going to scare away all of our customers!"** The manager fumed.

" **Sorry chubby, that's what we do!"** Jessie taunted with a wink.

" **We'll deal with this, boss!"** Several of the staff members, including Ash, May and Brock, began to launch pokéballs, summoning a total of about twelve Pokémon ready to battle Team Rocket. **"Go Carnivine!" "Go Seviper!"** Jessie and James yelled, desparately trying to avoid another blast-off.

Meanwhile, Dawn had just arrived outside the restaurant and was watching the scene through a window. She noticed that all the security guards had been distracted by the explosion. **"Now's our chance."** She whispered to Piplup, still on her shoulder.

Dawn sprinted inside, dashing through the restaurant where there were many confused customers wondering what all the noise was for and why there was suddenly a draught coming from the kitchen and into the kitchen where Ash and friends had been working.

 **"Hey! You're banned from here! Get out immediately!"** a security guard yelled as he noticed her.

 **"Wait! I can help you deal with Team Rocket!"**

 **"We can handle them ourselves thank you very much!"** The manager responded. **"Now get out!"**

" **Oh no Piplup they're not listening! What do we do?"** Dawn asked quietly in a worried tone.

" **Piplup piplup!"** The water type proudly announced as it quickly unzipped Dawn's bag, briefly rummaged thorough then pulled out a scrap of paper as it zipped it back up.

" **No Piplup! I don't have time for reading at a time like this!"**

" **Lup!"** Piplup face-palmed as it unfolded the paper. While she was distracted by Team Rocket earlier, Piplup had managed to rip part of the poster off the wall. Crucially, it was the part with all the key information on. The penguin Pokémon folded up the small scrap of paper and impressively managed to put it in Dawn's bag without her noticing.

" **That's it! Piplup! you're a genius! HEY EVERYONE! LOOK AT THIS!"** Piplup waved the paper around as Dawn yelled. This caught the attention of everyone, including Team Rocket.

 **"What's this?!"** The manager asked. She began to read through it. **"Tournament… tomorrow… prize of… TEN THOUSAND?! That's an awful lot."**

" **S** **o** **Mrs** **manager, how about this? If you let the five of us enter this tournament and one of us manage** **s** **to win it, we'll use the prize money to pay our bill AND fix your roof to say sorry for the trouble."** Dawn explained Piplup's idea.

" **Ha! Like the lot of you could win a competition of that calibre!"** The arrogant waiter from earlier remarked with a smirk.

To prove a point, Hugo quickly launched Shinx's pokéball. **"Shinx! Flamethrower!"** He ordered in a calm, casual tone. Shinx quickly realised what was going on and launched a tremendously powerful flamethrower through the new hole in the roof. Completely by accident, the flames caught the edge of Meowth's balloon, setting in on fire and sending in spiralling out of control. The three Rockets along with their Pokémon were quickly launched into the air. Many of the staff members looked shocked by what they'd just witnessed. A few of them gave Hugo a look as if to say 'How?' **"It's a long story."** He said quietly, but just loud enough for them to hear. He gave them a wink and a smile.

 **"Ten thousand pok** **é** **dollars? I want in!"** Exclaimed Jessie as Team Rocket flew through the air.

 **"Sound like a plan."** Meowth added.

" **Yeah! Team Rocket's gonna be rich!"** James cried out, raising a fist in the air triumphantly.

" **But for now..."** James began.

" **We're blasting off again!"** They wailed in unison.

" **Alright alright, I get it. You're pretty strong. Fine then. I'll give you one chance. You can all enter this tournament. If you win you can pay your bill and go free. But if you don't, you're all working for us!"** The manager spoke in a stern tone, unfazed by the fact that a Shinx had just used flamethrower. She must have lacked the knowledge to know that wasn't normal. **"And one more thing; you're all gonna tell 'em we're your sponsor. Might as well take the opportunity to get some free advertising."**

" **Did you hear that Pikachu? We're gonna get the chance to battle again. YEEEEEAH!"** Ash jumped for joy. **"Don't worry one bit. Me and my buddy Pikachu are gonna win it for sure!"**

" **Well it seems we'll have to close for the rest of today and tomorrow while we get this roof sorted. Say, how about the lot of you come and hop into my limo? We'll take you down to the battle stadium and get you all signed up."**

" **Well would you look at that?"** Brock whispered to the rest of the gang, who had gathered together by this point. **"Seems that manager is a pretty nice person after all."** The gang all followed the manager to his vehicle, and before long they were on their way to sign up for the tournament.

As this was happening, the waiter who'd served the gang earlier was thinking aloud. **"** **There's something very fishy about that taller man. Why does he look so familiar? Maybe he's from… hmm, since we're closed tomorrow I better use my day off to observe the young man's battles."**

* * *

" **Welcome to the Glorious town battle** **stadium** **!"** Beamed the local Nurse Joy. **"I'm guessing you're interested in tomorrow's tournament?"**

 **"Ah! Nurse Joy!"** Brock put her hand between both of his. **"What I'm really interested in is you. Whenever I'm feeling low, I simply think of your captivating beauty and all my pain and sadness goes awayyyyouch..."** Croagunk brought itself out of its pokéball and hit Brock with poison jab. **"But then… Croagunk… brings it all back again..."** He collapsed on the floor.

" **You bet we are! We all want to sign up please! Is that okay?"** Ash answered the Nurse.

" **Of course it is! Anyone can enter as long as you have at least three Pok** **é** **mon available. You got here just in time though. Registration closes soon."** Nurse Joy explained.

Several moments later, Ash, Dawn, Brock, May and Hugo had all signed up to enter. They'd each been given a rulebook which they all began to read after taking a seat on a nearby row of chairs.

OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT RULES

\- Each participant must possess a minimum of three battle-fit Pokémon during every stage of the tournament. Any participant with less than three at any stage will be immediately disqualified.

\- Each round will consist of two one-on-one battles between opposing participants. If a participant earns two wins, or one win and one draw, they will advance to the next round.

\- In the event that both battles end in a tie, or both participants have one win and one loss, there will be a third one-on-one battle to determine who goes through. If this results in a tie, a rematch will have to take place at a later time.

\- In order to qualify for the first knockout stage, participants must first prove their own strength by completing our special-made obstacle course as quickly as they can.

" **Oh man, why do they have to make it so confusing? Why can't they just use the same rules as the pok** **é** **mon league?"** Ash complained.

" **I guess they just want to be different?"** May guessed.

" **Oh come on Ash, it's hardly complicated."** Dawn mocked.

" **Yeah, it's nowhere near as confusing as those contests you worminators have."** Hugo added, getting a mean glare from Dawn.

" **Uh oh. I wasn't expecting the obstacle course part. I wonder what they could have in store for us?"** Brock wondered.

 **"REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REGISTERED! WE HAVE AROUND TWO HUNDRED ENTRIES MEANING THE TOP 128 WILL QUALIFY FOR THE KNOCKOUT STAGES, AND THERE WILL BE A TOTAL OF SEVEN ROUNDS! GOOD LUCK!"** A speaker announced from somewhere within the stadium they were sat in.

" **Wow. Two hundred? Guess we shouldn't be surprised given the prize money."**

" **But** **remember, most of them will probably be amateurs since there's no entry requirements."** Ash added.

 **"Well they can't have much less experience than me."** Hugo said. **"Don't assume someone isn't strong just because they haven't been battling for long."**

" **You're right! This is gonna be awesome! I can't wait! We're gonna win the whole thing for sure, right Pikachu?" "Pika!" "That's the spirit! Let's go and do some traini..."**

Ash was interrupted by a loud grumbling sound. They all looked around for a moment, wondering where it came from. **"What was that?"** Dawn asked, then she noticed May standing with a sheepish smile.

" **Um… my stomach."** She admitted.

Brock and Dawn both sweat-dropped. **"** **With these three around, we're gonna have to win a tournament every day just to afford to feed them."** Brock joked. **"Come on then, let's go and get something to eat."** The gang all left to find something to eat.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an unknown location, a mysterious figure was sat comfortably in their living room, watching their expensive looking television. An advert had caught their interest.

 **"COMING TO YOU LIVE** **WITH** **GLORIOUS** **TOWN'** **S** **ANNUAL BATTLE TOURNAMENT! WITH AROUND TWO HUNDRED EAGER CONTESTANTS ARE DROOLING OVER OUR STAGGERING 10,000 POKEDOLLAR PRIZE AND WE'LL BRING YOU THE HOTTEST BATTLES, STRATEGIES, TALKING POINTS AND MORE! DON'T MISS IT! BUILD UP BEGINS 7AM TOMORROW!"**

As the figure watched, a smirk grew across their face. **"How boring."** They muttered in an evil tone. **"Not worth watching."** Little did they know, that statement couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

 **I apologise for the Dragonball reference. The opportunity was too perfect and I couldn't resist. Hope it didn't ruin the chapter for anyone.**

 **Anyway, if you like battle scenes you'll love the next two chapters. Many battles await between various different trainers and Pokemon. Will any of our heroes manage to win? Who else will enter? Will the waiter figure out why Hugo looked so familiar? Stay tuned for the next chapter which will be out within 3 weeks, hopefully even sooner than that!**

 **Current teams:**

 **Unchanged from last chapter.**


	13. To Qualify Or Not To Qualify?

**Due partially to the abundance of speech in this chapter, and partially to the confusion caused by it, I've decided to remove bold speech for this chapter and possibly all future chapters. Any feedback on this decision would be appreciated. Thank you.**

 **In response to Guest: Sorry, I don't have plans to cover those episodes. I actually won't be covering many more episodes at all. Almost every chapter from now on is going to be original content.  
**

 **I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

"Hi everybody! It's-a-me! Mario! I'm-a gonna be your commentator throughout this exciting event. Two hundred eager competitors are all ready for action, excitement and of course a lot of fun too! This is Glorious town's annual battle tournament! And in the commentary box to enjoy it all with me is the tournament's record holder who has won the whole thing a whooping four times, it's Homer Shrimpton. How are you feeling Ho- hey! Now's not the time to be scoffing down doughnuts. We're live on air. Come on!"

"Oh, um, sorry Larry..." "It's Mario!" "Same thing… anyway, yes I am looking forward to enjoying this wonderful display of delicious, um, I mean delightful talent."

"So am I! Now let's take a look at some of the favourites to win the whole thing."

"First up we have Linda who has come here all the way from Hoenn. With her star partner, Exploud, she's looking to win over the Sinnoh crowd. She's been a finalist in the Hoenn league not once, but twice, unfortunately losing on both occasions."

"Next up we have Ellie from Sunnyshore city. Her star partner is Heatran, a rare Pokémon that only the strongest trainers are able to catch. She made it all the way to the semi-final of last year's Sinnoh league."

"Then we have Ash Ketchum from Pallet town, Kanto. The young man has previously won the orange league and conquered the Kanto battle frontier with his star partner, Pikachu, which enjoyed its biggest win yet when it defeated a Regice to secure the win."

"Finally, the crowd favourite, Phil, from right here in Glorious town. He's won the last two tournaments, largely thanks to the incredible support he receives from the crowd. He's looking to make it three on the trot and move closer to Homer's record. With his trusty Machamp his team's star attraction, this fighting type specialist has impressively seen off many flying and psychic types in the past, and will most likely do so again."

"Wow, Eric, those are some impressive competitors for sure! But there can only be one winner! Who will it be? One of those four or someone else?"

"Eric?! It's Mario! Anyway, onto the first stage of this exciting spectacle; the qualifier! As we can see, this doesn't actually take place within our stadium but on an open field outside. There will be four heats of qualifiers, each consisting of around fifty competitors. They will have to complete one lap around our field, which is around two miles in total. If that doesn't sound tiring already, wait until you hear the next part. There are a total of four obstacles after each half mile. The first is our giant wall. Competitors must use the rope provided to pull themselves all the way to the top, then slide down the slide on the other side. The second obstacle is the muddy marsh. With mud higher than your knees, competitors will have to struggle through this large area of mud. Third we have a river the competitors must swim across. They will appreciate the opportunity to get themselves clean but will not enjoy having to swim through when they're already exhausted. The final obstacle is the conveyor belt. It moves backwards pretty quickly, and the only way to get across it is to sprint as fast as you can and outrun the machine."

"In the end, everyone will be ranked by their time. The 128 fastest will progress through to the tournament itself. And would you look at that? Heat A is ready to go."

"Good luck to all the competitors, try not to feel appetizing, err, I mean anxious."

Hugo and Ash were both in heat A. Brock would be competing in heat B then Dawn and May were going in heat C.

"Good luck Hugo. Not that you need it. This should be a piece of cake for us, right?" Ash smiled at his friend.

"Err, sure! A walk in the park!" Hugo lied. Secretly, his confidence had been drained when he learned there was a swimming section as he couldn't swim.

"Geez, how are we supposed to compete against that guy? He's huge!"

"Have you seen that dude over there? He'll take one stride and be at the finish!"

Hugo knew he was tall, but this was the first time he'd ever stood among such a large crowd. He felt embarrassed as he was comfortably the tallest there.

"Hey, how's the weather up there?" Another competitor joked with him. "Um… it's all good. Sunshine and rainbows." Hugo replied not really knowing what he was supposed to say to that.

"Dude, you're so tall. Last time I saw someone your height was in that village. Oh, what was it called now? The name's on the tip of my tongue..."

Hugo smiled at the stranger as they struggled to think of the name, then suddenly a thought came to him. He remembered the 'dreams' from before. Were they dreams? Anyway, the village he'd seen before, with the vaguely familiar faces. It was probably just a silly thought, but he couldn't help but feel that this stranger might be referring to the very same village.

"ON YOUR MARKS!" The announcer boomed. As this happened, the stranger talking to Hugo seemed to forget about their conversation and went to find a good position on the line. Hugo and Ash casually took positions a bit further back.

"GET SET!" Hugo and Ash gave each other a confident smile, ready to obliterate the competition.

"GO!" All fifty competitors began to run along the field. Before long, more and more of them began to split up. Hugo and Ash were in the lead pack which consisted of about seven or eight runners. Hugo felt comfortable. Very comfortable. He looked around at the other runners around him. They all looked so focused, as though running at this pace required a large level of effort.

"And the lead group have reached the first obstacle! An almost vertical wall fifteen foot high with five ropes for all competitors to share while they climb."

Like everyone else, Hugo was wearing a vest with his race number on. This meant the full length of his arms were on show. As he reached the wall, he glanced at his arms for a moment. He still didn't remember how he got into such shape, but his arms were bulging with muscle and he intended to make use of them. He used all of his strength to power up the wall at an incredible pace, pulling away from everyone, including Ash. As soon as he reached the top, he slid down and began running towards the next obstacle at an increased pace.

"Looks like somebody's pulling away from the pack. And we can confirm that his name is Hugo. A pretty mysterious character, what we do know about him is that his star partner is a Shinx. He is also the tallest competitor in the entire field at a staggering six foot and seven inches. He is rumoured to be close friends with one of the tournament favourites, Ash Ketchum. And speaking of Ash, look at him go!"

Hugo was three quarters of the way to the next obstacle by now. He glanced behind to see a large number of people behind him. Some only just sliding down the wall while others were running as fast as they could in a desperate attempt to catch Hugo. Ash was now in second place, motivated by the sight of his friend in the lead. Out of the corner of his eye, Hugo noticed some sort of hot air balloon floating above, but was too tired to think about it.

"As we reach the second obstacle Hugo now has a lead of around twenty seconds, with Ash in second, then the chasing pack just behind him."

Hugo reached the swamp and began to make his way through it. The mud was almost up to his knees and very thick. It was like trying to run in water but more difficult. He hadn't made it very far in his struggle until Ash arrived. An idea came to Ash's head. It was the type of idea only Ash could get, but it was a good idea nonetheless. Just before he reached the swamp, he accelerated into a sprint and leaped as far as he could into the swamp.

"What an intelligent move! Ash has taken the lead thanks to his quick thinking, but he's still got his work cut out for him if he wants to beat Hugo! They've made it to the end of the swamp now, and Ash has a narrow lead! But what's this? Look over at the third obstacle!"

From out of the river in the distance, a blue haired man with a moustache made his way onto the dry land beyond with a big smirk on his face. Ash was sure he'd seen him before, but something about that moustache made him unable to identify the man. As Hugo and Ash began to run towards the river, they could make out what appeared to be a large mechanical Magikarp underwater, but they were too tired to think about it too much.

"I don't believe this folks! Somehow, a competitor has made his way past the third obstacle and has gained a huge lead without anybody noticing until now! We can confirm this competitor is Jameson from Kanto!"

A short time later, Hugo had gained a slight lead over Ash and had reached the edge of the river. As he got there, he froze on the spot, allowing Ash to catch up. Not realising what the problem was, Ash gave him a friendly but competitive smile as he was the first to dive into the river.

"Well… here goes nothing." Hugo muttered under his breath as he dove in. Within seconds, he was being carried around by the current.

"Oh no! What's going on here? It seems Hugo has been caught by the current and it's carrying him around in circles, forming the shape of a doughnut!"

"Mmm...Doughnuts..."

"Yuck! Stop drooling on me! That's disgusting!"

"Where are the doughnuts? I want doughnuts!"

"Mama mia! We're live on air! You're being highly unprofession…. Hey! Now is not the time to be ordering a takeaway! We're live on air! This is ridiculous!"

Meanwhile, Hugo was doing his best doggy paddle to try and fight against the current. This was so frustrating. Had he forgotten how to swim or did he never learn in the first place? Meanwhile, Ash had made it across the river and was now on his way to the final obstacle.

"Would you look at that folks! Jameson is right next to the end! All he has to do is make it across the conveyor belt and he's won the first heat! And there are his friend and Pokémon waiting at the finish!"

"Come on, you slowpoke! The twerp is coming!" Yelled a pink haired woman. As Ash looked at her from the distance, he could swear he'd seen her before, but something about the eyepatch she was wearing over her right eye prevented him from identifying her. She was standing with a Carnivine, a Mime jr and a Meowth.

"No problem! All I have to do is get across this- waah!" As Jameson stepped onto the conveyor belt, the speed of it took him by surprise and he was launched backwards, sent sprawling onto his back.

"Come on, you numbskull! He's almost here!"

"Woah folks! This contest is so intense it's making me lose my mind! I almost thought I heard that Meowth speak!"

Meanwhile, Hugo was in serious trouble. He was starting to drown.

"Some...help…please..."

He was unable to stay above water for long enough to let his cries for help be heard. Several contestants were overtaking him now, most of them didn't notice him and the few that did were too focused on the race to realise what danger he was in. Things were looking bad. Hugo began to sink under the water. Just as he thought he was a goner, a hand reached down, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him back above the water's surface. A woman who appeared not much older than Hugo was smiling at him. Her long, black hair was tied back, obviously because of the race. She had a scar across her left cheek and her skin was very pale, a common feature of people from Hoenn.

"Come on! I'll help you out! We have a lot of water back in Hoenn so I'm a pretty decent swimmer." Hugo felt embarrassed as he had to hold onto her shoulders as she swam them onto shore. As they got out they began to run towards the final obstacle. Even though it was a race, Hugo thought it was only right that he slowed down to say thanks.

"Um… thanks a lot. I could've drowned if it weren't for you." He was able to speak quite easily as he was running at her pace, which felt very slow to him.

"Oh, it was nothing. The... tournament officials... would never let a…contestant drown. If I didn't come... they'd have come... and helped you anyway." The woman said, struggling to speak clearly while running.

Just then, Hugo remembered reading the list of tournament favourites earlier. There'd been a page of info plus a profile picture for several better known contestants, including Ash.

"You're Linda, right? The one with the Exploud?"

Obviously not wanting to sacrifice anymore breath, Linda simply nodded.

Looking around, Hugo realised they were quite far back now. They were probably around 35th place, which meant they were unlikely to qualify for the tournament at this rate.

"Come on, I'll return the favour."

Hugo grabbed Linda's arm and began to run as fast as he could. He accelerated to the fastest pace he thought he could maintain, causing Linda to gasp at their sudden burst of speed. His incredible pace was far superior to everyone around him, so the pair began to overtake people very quickly. Linda had sacrificed quite a bit of time by rescuing Hugo in the river, so it was only fair that he made up for the time she'd lost.

Meanwhile, Ash had reached the conveyor belt.

"You idiot! Now the twerp's caught up!" The pink haired lady spat at Jameson, who still hadn't managed to cross the conveyor belt.

"It's much harder than it looks. You'll see what I mean when the twerp attempts it." Jameson replied in an effort to defend himself. As he said that, Ash sprinted past him, and using all of his speed he made it across fairly easily.

"And we have a winner folks! Ash ketchum from pallet town lives up to his reputation and takes first place in heat one!"

"Yeeeeah!" Ash jumped up and punched the air in triumph as he was reunited with a delighted looking Pikachu, Brock, Dawn and May along with the rest of his Pokémon at the finish line.

In the time it took Hugo and Linda to reach the last obstacle, around ten contestants had now finished the course. But all was not lost. If they could make it now they would almost certainly qualify for the knockout stages. The conveyor belt was wide, providing enough space for around seven or eight people to be on it at once. The problem was, there were easily twice that number trying to cross with little success so far. It would mean they'd have to manoeuvre around people.

Hugo let go of Linda's arm. "Yeah, I get it. It would be cheating if you helped me across this too. She admitted with a sad looking expression.

"Don't worry. You can do it on your own. I believe in you. Just follow my lead, and if you're struggling think happy thoughts." Hugo said with a smile, then turned towards the conveyor belt and began sprinting as fast as he could across it.

Meanwhile, Jameson was so close. He was inches away from the belt, but this was its fastest point, so he was having to sprint as fast as he could just to stay in place. His face was going from red to purple as he looked absolutely exhausted. "Must… finish… race..." he panted.

Just behind him, Hugo was making his way across easily. He showed impressive agility, sidestepping to avoid slower runners in his way. He was holding back slightly to enable Linda to follow him closely, but he was fairly impresses as she wasn't half bad herself. Where had this speed come from? She wasn't so fast earlier.

As they got towards the last few inches, Linda started to feel a bit too confident. "Look! I'm doing it! We're gonna make it- waah!

She'd been taken by surprise upon reaching the fastest part of the conveyor belt, falling forwards. She grabbed onto the bottom of Hugo's leg to stop the conveyor belt carrying her backwards. As an automatic reaction to the shock of someone grabbing his leg, Hugo began to stumble forwards. In a desparate attempt to keep his balance his arms were flailing all over the place. His full body weight slammed into the back of Jameson, and Hugo's momentum launched all three of them forwards as the fell. In an incredible stroke of luck, the three of them landed barely an inch past the end of the conveyor belt, with Hugo laid on top on Jameson and Linda of top of Hugo. All three were groaning in pain.

"It's not the most stylish way to finish a race, but three more contestants have made it to the finish! Finishing 13th, 14th and 15th, they shouldn't be at any risk of failing to qualify."

At the finish there was a fairly large area of field scattered with tents put up by both the competitors themselves, and business people trying to sell their overpriced products. There was also a waiting area for people and Pokémon waiting for their friend/relative/trainer to finish.

"Yeah! Well done guys!" Ash cried out excitedly as he ran over. Pikachu was on his shoulder and the rest of the gang were standing behind him. Everyone was in shorts and a vest with their race number on. Upon seeing them, Jameson suddenly leapt to his feet and dashed off. What was up with that guy?

"Thanks Ash." Hugo grinned as he got to his feet. "But I owe it all to Linda. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have qualified." He offered her his hand to help her up, which she accepted. As Dawn, May and Brock walked over, Brock's eyes widened as he saw Hugo holding a girl's hand, but he was even more surprised as he could swear she was blushing a bit.

"Oh, stop. No way would I have made it without your help. Your motivation gave me that bit of extra speed." She giggled playfully. "I may be one of the favourites when it comes to battling but I've never done anything like that before."

As Brock walked over hearts appeared over his eyes. He dashed over to Linda and got down on his knees. "Wow! Beautiful and strong! But not as strong as the love I felt for you the moment I laid my eyes upon- OW!" He fell down, revealing Croagunk standing behind him with its fist raised as though it had just used Poison jab.

Hugo noticed they were still holding hands, and felt a little embarrassed. He let go and quickly changed the subject."Hey Ash, congrats on the win. Do you get a prize for it?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't think so. It's only a heat so it's all about your time. Not your position."

"Aw, that's a shame..." Hugo frowned.

"And that time's about to be beaten!" May stated confidently.

"I guess that means you're up next?" Hugo asked.

"You betcha! And I'm gonna show you and Ash how it's really done!"

"Me too!" Dawn chirped in. "We'll both finish first and second, no need to worry about us not qualifying."

"And then I'm in the third heat!" Brock announced. "Let's all do our best to make it through!"

"Hey, let's go get our Pokémon." Linda nudged Hugo on his arm with her shoulder. As with pretty much everyone, he towered over her. The height difference was around fourteen inches.

Dawn and May gave their Pokémon to Brock and Ash, who'd already collected his Pokémon, and headed over to the start. As Hugo and Linda strolled over to the waiting area, the first thing Hugo saw was his little Shinx jumping for joy as it saw its trainer approach. Hippopotas gave a friendly "Hippo!" and Drifloon floated right up to his face crying "Looooooon!" He really needed to teach that Pokémon about personal space. It was right up in his face, floating an inch in front of him so it was almost touching his nose. Then again, there was a very long list of things Drifloon needed to be taught. Kabutops casually strolled over, raising a claw as if to say 'hi'.

"Awesome! Your Pokémon are so cute! Wanna come and see mine?" Linda remarked excitedly. "Sure. Why not?" Hugo replied. As he walked over he noticed her giving a big hug to her Exploud. Several other Pokémon stood behind. A Linoone, Manectric, Milotic, Gardevoir and Delcatty.

"Nice. I'm guessing you really like normal types, since they make up half of your team?"

"You bet! Normal types are awesome! They can learn a huge variety of moves, they only have one weakness and they tend to be pretty bulky, like Exploud here. "EXPLOUD!" The normal type bellowed at a ridiculous volume.

After they'd both returned their Pokémon she turned back towards him. "So… while we're waiting for the rest of the heats, do you fancy going somewhere? To dinner maybe?"

Hugo frowned. "Sorry. As much as I'd love some food, I'm going to watch my friends in the rest of the heats. Don't you have any friends here you could watch?"

She frowned. "Not really. You're the first person I've spoken to since I got here to be honest."

"Okay then, wanna come and watch the girls with me, Ash and Brock?"

Her eyes lit up upon hearing the offer. "Of course. I'd love to!"

As Hugo and Linda walked over to meet back with Ash and Brock, they saw Brock once again laid on the floor looking in pain. Croagunk was once again standing beside him with its fist raised as though it had just finished a poison jab attack. Ash was standing beside him while a slightly tanned girl with light blonde hair was talking to him. She looked around Ash's age and was actually slightly taller than him. Her hair was tied back like every other competitor with long hair. She was standing very close to Ash, getting in his personal space similarly to how Drifloon had with Hugo. She looked like she was enjoying their conversation very much while Ash looked pretty uncomfortable.

"That was really impressive, winning the whole thing." She said in a soft, sweet voice. "Uh… thanks." Ash replied, a little embarrassed. "I've heard about you. You're Ash. You've won the orange league and been offered a place as a frontier brain. Why did you turn it down?"

Ash shrugged. "It was a tempting offer but I wanted to continue my journey."

She smiled. "Such a bold decision. I just love the strong, brave and bold type."

Hugo decided to help his friend out of his uncomfortable situation. "Hi Ash. Who's your friend?"

The girl gave him a nasty glare. "Hey! We were just having a nice private chat and you rudely interrupted us. And for your information the name's Ellie."

Brock jumped to his feet. "I've heard of you. You're the trainer who owns a Heatran, aren't you? That's very impressive."

She gave Brock an equally intimidating glare. "Maybe I do. Not that that's any of your business."

"Awesome! A Heatran! Would you mind showing it to us?" Ash asked excitedly.

Her hostile expression suddenly turned friendly as she looked towards Ash. "Of course. Anything for you, sweetie."

She launched her pokéball, unleashing the fire and steel type. "Cool! That's amazing Ellie! I hope we get to battle at some point." Ash looked very excited by the sight of such a Pokémon.

She winked at him. "Of course we will sweetie. If we cheer each other on nobody will stop us beating everyone else. Then you'll let me win, won't you?"

Ash looked confused. "Huh? Let you win? Why would I-"

Linda was on the same wavelength as Hugo, and interrupted the awkward scenario. "Hi Ellie, the name's Linda, from Hoenn. Pleased to meet you."

"Hmph." Ellie exclaimed. "My granddad told me not to speak to anyone from Hoenn."

"Huh? Why's that?" Linda replied.

"Because they might be like you. Stay away from my Ashy!" Ellie demanded.

"That's not very nice. And I've barely met Ash. What are you talking about?" Linda asked.

"Ha! Just because my boyfriend won the heat and yours didn't even make the top ten, you don't have to be jealous." Ellie stated arrogantly.

A noticeable blush appeared on Linda's face. "I've got no idea what you're talking about. I don't have a boyfriend. And Ash doesn't even like you. Right, Ash?"

With no experience in this sort of situation, Ash had no idea what to do. "I-I-" he stuttered.

"And they're off! Heat two gets underway! If it's half as entertaining as heat one we're in for a treat!" The gang could hear the commentator through the speakers scattered throughout the field.

"Come on guys!" Brock grabbed Hugo and Ash by the arm, rescuing them from their predicament. "Let's go cheer for Dawn and May."

Ash, Brock, Hugo, Linda and Ellie watched the second heat together, with Ellie making several attempts to get Ash to come with her and leave these 'losers' so they could be alone together.

"So, what's the story behind the scar? Hugo asked Linda halfway through the heat.

"I could ask you the same thing about why you can't swim." She replied.

"Well, you see, me and Shinx kinda lost our memory, and..."

"Really? That's what happened to me! Well, sort of. When I arrived here in Sinnoh I kind of just… got this scar. I don't remember how I got it."

"Wait, did this memory loss involve any giant portals or strange visions? Have you been accused of any crimes you didn't commit? Have you encountered any strange old men who make you complete a quiz and tell you long stories? Have you met any person or Pokémon who know who you are but you don't know who they are but they never know enough about you to explain anything you didn't already know about your life before the memory loss?!"

"What?"

"Never mind..."

A little later, the heat was coming to an end.

"And finishing in 18th and 19th place after completing the whole course together, we have Dawn from Twinleaf town and May from Littleroot town in Hoenn!"

"Boo!" "Hoenn sucks!" "What a loser!"

"And as usual, it's a poor reception from the crowd for the Hoenn native."

"Well done guys! That was great!" Brock exclaimed.

"Thanks Brock. Told you there was no need to worry." Dawn replied.

"Gee, tough crowd." May smiled sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. I get it all the time. People from Sinnoh just don't like Hoenn."

"Not all of us." Dawn argued. "I have no problem at all with Hoenn. I don't see what all the fuss is about."

"Then you're not a true Sinnohan. Our rivalry with Hoenn dates back to ancient times." Ellie snapped.

"Well if the rivalry is ancient, why are we still bothered about it?" Dawn asked.

"Hmph. You'll never get it. We fought with them to expand our borders. Many brave soldier of Sinnoh lost their lives trying to support our great region." Ellie explained.

"I still don't see why I should hate Hoenn." Dawn stood by her opinion.

"I get it. You're just arguing with me because you're jealous that I stole the heart of the man you have a crush on." Ellie teased.

"Ellie, come now. Don't waste your time with the likes of them. Let's go and observe the rest of the qualification stage." A voice interrupted before Dawn could come up with a response.

Everyone turned upon hearing that voice, and the gang were left stunned when they saw who was there. Standing before them was none other than the waiter. The guy who served them the golden pancakes without first explaining how expensive they were. It was his fault they were in this mess in the first place.

"Granddad!" Ellie ran over and gave him a hug.

"The Hoenn girls are being mean to me!" She pretended to cry. Her grandfather clearly bought the act.

"Why am I not surprised?" The waiter/dad of Ellie fumed. "You Hoenn folk are all the same. I was right in my decision to trick you, wasn't I?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Well you see, when I heard a member of your party originates from the Hoenn region, I simply couldn't resist the urge to trick you into purchasing a quantity of food you were unable to afford. The lot of you would be punished for befriending a Hoenn native by working for us, while we got rid of the Hoenn girl by banning her from our restaurant.

"Huh?" But May's the one from Hoenn not Dawn." Brock explained.

"I realise that now. Clearly, there was a misunderstanding between me and the spy."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed at once.

"That's right. We have our own spy who is constantly on the lookout for Hoenn folk, so they can get what they deserve."

"Something's not right here. I get that you had this war years ago, but there's no way that's enough of a reason to hate Hoenn that much." Hugo spoke up, unhappy with the waiter's attitude.

"OKAY, MAYBE I HAVE MY OWN REASONS BUT I WILL NOT BE QUIZZED ON SUCH THINGS BY A MERE KID LIKE YOU!" The waiter stormed off, triggered by Hugo's statement.

"You upset granddad!" Ellie stuck her tongue out. "As much as I like you, Ash, I don't like your choice in friends!" She then proceeded to follow her grandfather/the waiter.

"Last call for heat three! All contestants please make your way towards the start!"

"Uh oh! I better get a move on! Don't wanna miss my heat!" Brock exclaimed. "Take my Pokémon please. He quickly handed his pokéballs to Hugo then made his way towards the start.

"Good luck pal." Hugo patted him on the back as he left.

Brock did ok in his heat. He wasn't the fastest runner, but he was fairly strong, and a good swimmer too. He really struggled on the conveyor belt at the end, though, and ended up finishing 31st, putting his qualification in doubt.

"Wow… that was tough…" Brock tried to catch his breath just after finishing.

"Well done Brock!" "Congrats Brock!" "You were awesome Brock!" Hugo, Ash, Linda, Dawn and May all congratulated him on his performance.

"Thanks guys. I'm a little bit worried about whether I'll qualify though.

"No need to worry." Dawn reassured him.

"Even if you don't, don't worry about it. You did your best and that's all that matters." Hugo added, while Linda gave him a look of admiration at his wise words.

"My time was 25 minutes, so let's keep a close eye on the timer in this last heat." Brock stated nervously.

"Here we are for the fourth and final heat! What do you think of this heat Homer?"

"Well, Joe…" "Mario!" "Same thing. Anyway, I know we're supposed to be neutral but this heat contains my favourite competitor. He's also a crowd favourite. He's none other than Phil from Glorious town!"

Standing on the start line was a slightly overweight man with tattoos on his shoulders. He was balding with a bit of blonde hair. He seemed to have special permission to go topless as he wasn't wearing a vest like everyone else, exposing his slightly large belly. Much to everyone's surprise, he looked far more relaxed than the rest of the contestants. He had a pint of beer in his hand.

"Get set… go!" The contestants set off. At first Phil was struggling to run due to his weight. He was towards the back. However, he took a drink of beer and suddenly he accelerated to double the speed, with an excited look on his face. He cleared the first obstacle in the lead. Just as he was starting to slow down, he pulled out a doughnut and scoffed it down, once again accelerating to a much quicker pace.

"Gah! Stop drooling all over me!" "Mmm...doughnuts...mmm...beer… this is my type of contestant!"

Phil reached the final obstacle, the conveyor belt, with a decent lead. He stopped and stared at the obstacle for a few seconds. "I know! this banana will give me the energy I need!" He pulled a banana out of nowhere and quickly scoffed it down, discarding the skin on the floor, then whizzed over the conveyor belt like it wasn't even there, with an excited expression on his face.

"YEEEEEAH!" Phil began showing off after he crossed the finish. He flexed his 'muscles' even though he didn't really have any.

"Unbelievable! Phil's done it again and surprised us all! He's beaten Ash Ketchum's time to make him the fastest qualifier!"

"Aw man! No way!" Ash stomped his feet in frustration upon hearing that his time had been beaten.

A steady stream of contestants began to make their way across the finish. Ellie came in around 20th, comfortably qualifying. Brock looked increasingly nervous as he stared up at the large leaderboard. His overall position dropped to 125th, 126th, 127th…

Brock gasped out loud as another contestant finished, knocking him down to 128th overall. "If one more person beats my time I'm out." He said nervously.

"Mama mia!" A look at the clock shows 24:40. The remaining contestants have just twenty seconds to finish or they're out..."

A few contestants were struggling on the conveyor belt, unable to get across. A small number had even given up, which irritated Ash and Hugo. They both hated to see people give up.

Just as it looked like Brock had a chance, a determined looking man sprinted towards the conveyor belt. "I… CAN… DO THIS!" He screamed at the top of his lunges with a determined expression.

Just as it looked like Brock was going to be eliminated, something stopped the young man in his tracks. He stepped straight onto something yellow. He slipped on Phil's banana skin, sending his feet flying into the air.

"24:58, 24:59, 25:00! That means all 128 places have now been decided. Congratulations to everyone who qualified!"

"Yeah! We all did it! That's awesome!" Ash cried out.

"Phew. What a relief..." Brock added.

"And now our computer will randomly generate our tournament tree! Remember folks, the winner of block A will face the winner of block B in our big final!"

"Looks like I'm in block A." Ash noticed.

"Same here." Brock added.

"Me too." Dawn concluded.

"Block B for me." May stated.

"And me." Linda said.

"And me." Hugo finally found his name on the screen.

"So Ash, if you want a battle you'll have to make it all the way to the final." Hugo challenged his friend.

"You're on!" Ash called him out.

"Sorry guys, that's not going to happen because I'm going to be in the final." Dawn chimed in.

"Me too!" Decided May. "Let's make it an all-girl finale!"

"Don't forget about me!" Added Linda.

"Never underestimate the power of Brock!" Brock remarked.

"And my first battle is against… oh. It's Jameson! I remember him from the qualifiers!" Hugo exclaimed.

The whole gang were ready for a big tournament ahead of them. There could only be one winner and one thing was for sure. No matter who won, it wasn't going to be easy for them.

* * *

 **Get ready for lots of battles! Who will win the tournament? Who will face off in the later rounds and who will be eliminated early? What's the deal with that Waiter? I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter as much as I am! It's gonna be a bumpy ride so fasten your seat belts!**

 **Current teams: Unchanged**


	14. The Big Tournament Begins

**Apologies as I did say this chapter would be out in April, and I am aware that April ended 6 days ago.**

 **I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

A family somewhere in Sinnoh were sat in their living room watching TV together.

"Welcome back folks! We are coming towards the end of the first round of the tournament! We've seen some exciting battles so far. Some of them were very close..."

The screen showed the final seconds of several battles. In one of the clips, Brock and his Croagunk could be seen. Croagunk was just barely standing, looking exhausted, with a fainted Miltank standing in front of it while Brock looked ecstatic about his victory.

"...Some not so close..."

Several more clips were briefly shown. Among them, Ash and Pikachu were dancing around, celebrating a comfortable victory.

"And some have showed unbelievable feats of strength."

First there was a clip of Phil waving his shirt around in his hand while his Machamp flexed its muscles and showed off. There was a fainted Staraptor lying in front of them, looking like it had just been destroyed in a tough battle.

Second, it went to a clip of Ellie grinning smugly with her Heatran standing in front of her with an intimidating glare.

"We've arrived at the final battle of round one. It's Hugo versus Jameson! Little is known about either of these competitors so it should be full of surprises!"

"Hey Mommy." The little girl in the family said. "Do you think they get nervous about their battles?"

The Mother smiled. "Of course they do honey! But the toughest battlers of them all know how to take those nerves and turn them into energy to help them win!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Glorious town battle stadium.

"Oh no..." Hugo muttered, pacing up and down in the tunnel, waiting for his cue to enter the arena. "Oh no oh no oh no..."

"Hey man." Brock approached his friend. "Feeling nervous?"

"You can say that again." He replied.

"I'm not surprised. I was the same way before my first official battle. Don't worry about it. Just treat it like a normal training session with me or Ash."

"Oh man. What if I mess up? How embarrassing would that be, losing in the first round when all of my friends made it through?"

Brock smiled. "There's nothing to fear. Most of us have been battling for years. Even Dawn has had several months experience with contests now."

Hugo finally managed a smile himself. He put his hand on Brock's back. "Thanks man, I needed that."

"CAN THE CONTESTANTS PLEASE MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE ARENA?!" The speakers around the stadium boomed.

"Good luck!" Brock called out as Hugo began to stroll into the battle arena. As he emerged from the tunnel, he felt intimidated by the thousands of screaming fans packing the stadium. He tried to look around to find an empty seat, but he couldn't see any. He knew his friends were there somewhere. Ash, Dawn, May, Linda and Brock had all won their battles.

"WE LOVE YOU PHIL, WE DO! WE LOVE YOU PHIL, WE DO! WE LOVE YOU PHIL, WE DO! OOOOOH PHIL WE LOVE YOU!" The crowd chanted.

Even though Phil wasn't battling now, the crowd were still buzzing from his earlier victory and the extremely popular man was no doubt sat somewhere in the crowd enjoying all the praise and support he was receiving.

From the tunnel at the opposite end of the arena, Jameson walked out and took his spot at the opposite end of the battlefield. Walking beside him was a Meowth. There was something unusual about this Meowth, though, as it was walking on two feet. 'He must be a really good trainer, teaching his Meowth how to walk like that.' He thought.

The referee took his spot at the side of the battlefield and signalled that he was ready.

"The round one battle between Hugo and Jameson will begin in THREE...TWO...ONE… GO!"

"Kabutops, let's do this!" Hugo launched his pokéball, unleashing the rock and water type.

"Carnivine, go!" Jameson called out. The grass type emerged from its pokéball, instantly turning around and chomping on Jameson's head. "No! You're supposed to fight for me not bite on me!"

"A very wise choice from Jameson to kick off this battle. Carnivine has a huge type advantage over Kabutops!"

"Type advantage? Doesn't matter, we've got this! Kabutops use slash!"

Kabutops sprinted towards Carnivine, taking a large swing with its impressive claws. The grass type narrowly avoided in the last second.

"Now, Carnivine! Bullet seed!" Carnivine spat a stream of seeds at Kabutops, hitting it in the back and causing it to stagger forwards, clearly in a lot of pain.

"Ouch! That bullet seed attack will deal four times the normal damage to the rock and water type!"

Kabutops fell down face first, looking exhausted already.

"Come on buddy! You can't be beaten by a single attack! You can do this!"

Upon hearing its trainers words of motivation, Kabutops staggered back onto its feet.

Jameson grinned. "Maybe I overestimated the tall twerp… finish it with another bullet seed!"

"This is surely going to be an easy victory for Jameson!"

"Kabutops! Prove them wrong!" Hugo commanded.

As the spray of seeds launched towards Kabutops, it showed impressive skills by deflecting all of them with its claws, sending some back towards Carnivine, dealing minor damage.

"An impressive manoeuvre keeps Hugo and Kabutops in with a chance!"

"Their guard's down! Use slash again!"

Kabutops launched itself at Carnivine, who was still getting over the surprise of that bullet seed deflection. In one swift motion, it was hit directly with a powerful slash attack, causing it to fall to the ground with swirly eyes.

"Incredible! Kabutops managed to endure a grass type attack, then take out its opponent with a single critical hit!"

"Waaah!" Jameson called out. "My poor Carnivine!" They both returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs. "Awesome job Kabutops. Now take a good rest."

"Come on you mug, da twoip's embarrassing you out dere!" came a voice from somewhere. Hugo looked towards Jameson to see him with his hand over Meowth's mouth, smiling sheepishly.

"Wow folks! I'm so excited by this battle I'm hearing things. I thought I heard that Meowth talk just now!"

"Ahaha! That's funny, mister commentator because this is just a regular Meowth. It certainly can't talk!" James called over to the commentators, who were sitting fairly close to the battlefield, among the camera crew.

"Now it's time for a comeback! Go Mime Jr!"

"Mime mime mime!" The baby pokémon called out as it appeared.

"Hmm… Well if he's going with psychic type, I only have one Pokémon which would have the advantage. (Gulp) Here goes nothing… Drifloon! Let's do this!"

"Looooooon!" The ghost type exclaimed as it appeared from its pokéball.

"This time it's Hugo with the type advantage, but can Jameson turn around this battle where he's currently one nil down?"

"Uh oh. Mime Jr…try Teeter dance?" Jameson ordered with no confidence whatsoever.

Mime Jr began swaying its arms side to side in a dance and in almost no time at all, Drifloon was doing the same with its 'arms'.

"Aw man." Hugo complained. "I should've known this'd happen. Come on! Float the other way!"

As the ghost type floated around in its confusion, it accidentally got too close to Hugo and managed to hit its own pokéball on his belt. This caused a ray of red energy to appear, returning Drifloon to its ball accidentally.

"Wow! I've never seen that before! It looks like Drifloon is out of contention. What does that mean Homer?"

"Oh, um… it means Mime Jr is my dinner…I mean, Mime Jr is the winner!"

"I won?" Asked a stunned Jameson. "I…we won! We did it Mime Jr we really did it!"

"Mime mime mime!" His partner happily exclaimed.

"The score is tied at one all so now it's down to the decider! Both competitors must carefully select their third and final Pokémon."

"Huh?! I need three Pokémon?" Jameson asked in a panic.

From the front row of the crowd, a pink haired woman wearing an eye patch began to argue with him. "You fool! Those are the rules, didn't you know?! How did you expect to win if you didn't even know the rules?!" Hugo wondered if there was something wrong with her eye, or maybe it was some sort of disguise…

Jameson scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile "Honestly I never thought I'd get this far… can I borrow a Pokémon please?"

"What's this? Doesn't Jameson realise that borrowing other people's Pokémon is against the rules?"

"Looks like it's down to me…" The Meowth next to Jameson seemed to say as it stepped forward, ready for battle.

"Oh…of course! I choose you, Meowth!"

Hugo grabbed a pokéball off his belt. "Hippopotas let's do this!" He launched the ball, summoning his ground type hippo.

"It's Meowth vs Hippopotas! Who will come out on top?!"

"Ha! Da twoip don't stand a chance! Get a load of my fury swipes!" Meowth began to charge with his sharp claws ready.

"Take down!" Hugo ordered. Hippopotas sprinted towards Meowth.

"Ha! As if a measly body slam's gonna defeat me-OW!" Hippopotas's full body weight crushed Meowth beneath it. When the Hippo Pokémon stood back up, Meowth was laid on the floor with swirly eyes.

"What was that Meowth?! You just cost us the battle!" Jameson yelled angrily at his Pokémon.

"Nice one Hippopotas. That was easy." Hugo shrugged. "Guess I overestimated him."

Just then, an explosion could be heard. When Hugo turned around, there was a hole in the stadium wall. Hovering above was a Meowth themed balloon with a claw extended out below. The claw was holding a large amount of cash and appeared to be the cause of that hole.

"Fine then!" Jessie announced from within the balloon. "If those two clowns are too useless to win the prize, we'll just go ahead and steal it instead."

"Yay! I like that plan better! Why didn't we do this in the first place?!" Jameson dashed towards the balloon with Meowth not far behind. The balloon lowered enough for them to get in before beginning to rise again.

"What's going on?! This will surely result in a ban from the competition for Jameson! What is his true identity?!"

"Listen! Is that a famous Sinnoh voice voice I hear?" Jessie asked.

"It commentates to me loud and clear!" Jameson tore off his moustache, revealing himself as James.

"On the wind!"

"Past the stars!"

"In your ear!"

"I GOT THIS GUYS!" Hugo looked up to see Phil within the audience with a large cannon next to him. He was beginning to adjust its aim towards the balloon.

"With a steal this big, we'll earn a promotion."

"And we're on TV! We've caused quite a commotion."

"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE, THIEVES!" Phil screamed as he jumped into the cannon.

"Cash by any other name makes us just as wealthy."

"Our wallets are gonna be very healthy."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"And Meowth, dat's a name!"

"FIRE!" Phil launched himself towards the balloon, tearing a hole in the balloon. He performed an impressive flip, before landing on the arm of the claw, sliding down in style, reaching the bottom and pulling the claw open. He proceeded to grab all the money, jump down, and hand it to one of the battle officials. For a moment Team Rocket didn't notice.

"Putting the do-gooders in their place."

"We're Team Rocket, and we're..." All at once the trio looked up at the hole in their balloon and realised what was happening. "...Blasting off again!" The balloon began to spiral out of control, launching Team Rocket into the distance.

"UNBELIEVABLE! IN A HEROIC ACT, PHIL HAS SAVED THE DAY!"

"WOOOOO! PHIL! PHIL! PHIL! PHIL!" The crowd went absolutely berserk.

"We love you man!" "You're my hero!" "Marry me!"

Phil once again took off his shirt, waving it around above his head. The man appeared to have gained weight since the qualifier as his large belly was shaking around like crazy.

"What a fine specimen off a man! A great example to all the kids! If you're a young aspiring trainer, you should make it your aim to be like this man!"

As the commentator said this, Phil pulled out a large burger and began scoffing it down.

Hugo took this opportunity to exit the arena and try to find his friends.

"Now where were we? Oh yes! The second round! Homer, would you like to do the honours? Press this button, and our computer will decide who faces who in blocks A and B."

"It would be my pudding… I mean pleasure. Here we go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Hugo found the rest of the gang. Ash, Brock, Dawn and May were all there with Linda too.

"Nice one Hugo! I would never have suspected your opponent was James from Team Rocket!" Brock said.

"Me neither." Added Ash. "Now we're one step closer to winning the whole thing! Wahoo!"

"You're in for a treat here folks! In an unexpected twist, the computer has decided that the next round will be in the form of a double battle. Instead of the normal rules, each competitor will use only one Pokémon each as they team up with another randomly selected competitor."

"Wow! I wasn't expecting that." Dawn said in a surprised tone. "I hope my teammate isn't some idiot."

"...And in our next match-up, Ash Ketchum will be teaming up with Dawn!" Their names appeared on all the large computer screens throughout the stadium.

"Uh oh. Too bad Dawn." Hugo joked.

"Yay! Let's do this Ash!" She exclaimed giddily. "Yeah! We can win this!" Ash agreed. The pair gave each other a high five.

"Please be a hot girl. Please be a hot girl..." Brock pleaded.

"And the male trainer, Tiny, will be teaming up with Brock!"

"Nooooooo!" Brock held his hands in his head and fell to his knees.

"Onto block B. And May will be joining forces with Hugo!"

"Awesome!" May exclaimed. "We should make an awesome team." Hugo held up his hand above his head to give her a high five. May jumped as high as she could but couldn't come close to reaching high enough.

"Come on now! You're doing that on purpose." The pair chuckled for a moment.

"Um… good luck you two. I hope they don't give May too much abuse this round." Linda sounded a little bit sad as she said this. Hugo noticed her face had gone bright red. Was she jealous of someone?

"...And that's all the round two match-ups decided. Good luck to all our remaining competitors!"

"Guess we should go get ready…" Dawn decided, grabbing Ash's arm to follow.

"Good luck Ash." Hugo called out.

Ash smiled back at him, then for a moment his smile went away. "Hey! I'm not an idiot!" He called out, finally realising what Hugo's words meant and causing everyone else to face-palm.

* * *

Several moments later, Ash and Dawn were in the battle arena.

"….Girafarig is also unable to battle. The winners are Buizel and Pachirisu. The match goes to Ash and Dawn!"

"Yeah!" The pair called out, sharing another high five moment.

* * *

Meanwhile, Brock was wondering around the stadium searching for his partner, grumbling to himself. "Why did it have to be a guy? Most of the other pairings are a man and a woman but noooo. Brock has to get a dude."

"Hey. You're Brock, right?" A very deep voice asked.

"Why yes I am… WOW!" Brock looked up to see an enormous man. Almost as tall as Hugo with ten times as much muscle. He was heavily tattooed and had a scary expression with gritted teeth.

"Let's go!" He bellowed in a ferocious, deep tone.

"Wow, maybe I was wrong to be unhappy about my partner." Brock muttered to himself.

* * *

"Wow, I was right to be unhappy about my partner." Brock muttered to himself.

"Waaaah! I lost! I want my mummy!" Tiny bellowed with a stream of tears flowing down his cheeks. His Pokémon had fainted while Brock's Sudowoodo was now struggling as it was outnumbered.

"Sudowoodo! Hammer arm!" He ordered.

"Nidoqueen! Double kick!"

"Cacturne! Pin missile!"

The combination of attacks overwhelmed Sudowoodo and it was sent sprawling onto the floor with swirly eyes.

"Aw man. Brock lost." Ash complained from the crowd.

"No need to worry." Dawn said. "He fought very well."

"Yeah." Hugo agreed. "Nothing embarrassing about losing to those two. They were good."

* * *

A little later, the gang were near the tunnel as Hugo and May were about to enter for their battle.

"Sorry guys. I tried my best but I let us down." Brock said.

Everyone shook their heads at once.

"Not true at all. You were awesome!" May said truthfully.

"BOOOOOOO!" They could hear the crowd outside the tunnel.

The gang turned towards the tunnel, and could see Linda and her partner approaching on their way out of the arena. She appeared to be holding back tears.

"Hey, what's up?" Ash asked. "There's no need to get upset. Everyone loses sometimes."

"We didn't lose, Ash. We won." She sobbed. "But..."

"I get it. The crowd." Hugo frowned.

"It's horrible! I could drop dead and they'd celebrate!"

"Hey. Ignore them. They've never even met you. They don't know the real you. All they know is your place of birth."

"Thank you. Those words help more than you think." Without realising, she began sobbing into Hugo's chest (Or rather, stomach, since the height difference was so great) and giving him a hug.

After a moment that felt awkward to Hugo, she eventually stopped, smiled at him and began to walk away. He looked back towards his friends to see Dawn and May with a huge grin. Ash was distracted, playing with Pikachu. Brock stepped towards him, grabbing his arm.

"Come on. A word."

He led him around the corner, into relative privacy.

"Do you realise what you've done?"

"No. Why? Was it something bad?"

"No! Ugh! You're just as bad as Ash!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Do you not think Linda acts a bit… strange around you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Hugo! You're tall, strong, brave, and a nice guy too. This was bound to happen sooner or later."

At last, the realisation kicked in. Hugo's eyes widened.

"Wow. I'm just as bad as Ash."

"At last! Now, what are you going to do about this then?"

"Um… I really don't know. What would you do Brock?"

"What would I do if a beautiful lady liked me? You're kidding, right?"

"On second thoughts, I don't want to know."

"You need to speak to her about this."

"Yeah, that's right. Maybe I should..."

Just then, something stirred within Hugo's brain. It was the faintest thing. Somewhere in the back of his mind his old memories were still there. He knew it. One of them had almost come back to him. Almost…

In a brief moment lasting barely a quarter of a second, Hugo saw something. He saw himself. Back home. There were two others with him. Male and female. Both were around his age.

"Ow..." He held his head due to the pain caused by trying to remember. He began to stagger backwards.

"Wow! Steady!" Brock grabbed Hugo's hips to steady his balance. "You're trying to remember again, aren't you? I thought we agreed you shouldn't do that. It's not good for you."

"That's right, sorry Brock." Hugo groaned, still holding his head in pain.

After taking a moment to recover, he stood up straight again.

"This is a bad idea. I don't even know who I was, who I used to know. I can't drag anyone else into this mess with me..."

Brock smiled at him. "I understand. Good luck in the second round."

* * *

After that strange experience Hugo entered the arena alongside May.

"Our next battle will be John and Charlie against Hugo and May!"

Upon hearing May's name, the crowd went mad.

"BOOOOO!" "WE HATE HOENN! WE HATE HOENN!" "GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!"

Hugo gave May an encouraging pat on the back, hoping the crowd wouldn't get to her.

"THREE…TWO…ONE...GO!"

"Okay Bellossom, let's go!" "Abomasnow go!

"Glaceon, take the stage!"

'Ugh. Two grass types.' Hugo thought. 'This kinda feels like cheating but I haven't got many options.'

"Shinx, let's do this!"

"It's Bellossom and Abomasnow versus Shinx and Glaceon. Begin!"

"No messing around, Bellossom use magical leaf!" "Abomasnow assist with razor leaf!"

A bombardment of leaves were launched towards Shinx and Glaceon.

May smiled at the opportunity. "Mirror coat!"

Glaceon's body began to appear more transparent.

"Boo! Give up, pathetic Evee thing!" A crowd member called out angrily. These harsh words clearly affected Glaceon, as a frown appeared on its face and its body became less transparent. Only some of the leaves were deflected, dealing almost zero damage to Bellossom and Abomasnow. Meanwhile, the bombardment of leaves hit Shinx head on, however to the surprise of everyone in the stadium except Ash, Brock, Dawn and Hugo, Shinx barely flinched from the two attacks, feeling only a bit of discomfort.

"Ignore them, May and Glaceon!" Hugo called out.

"What are you doing?" May replied. "You haven't given a single order yet!"

Hugo smirked. "Giving them a chance."

"Abomasnow leer!" The huge ice type gave the already nervous Glaceon an intimidating glare, causing it to completely let its guard down.

"Now's our chance Bellossom! Mega drain!" Bellossom began to absorb the energy of the already defenceless ice type. "Glaaaaaaa!" It cried out in pain. "Oh dear! Hang in there Glaceon!" May called out.

"YEEEEEEAH!" The crowd were obviously enjoying Glaceon and May's misfortune.

While this was going on, Shinx calmly strolled over to Bellosom. "Do it." Hugo ordered.

Shinx raised a paw and began stroking the back of Bellossom's neck. The grass type struggled to remain focused for a second but then gave up and began to burst into laughter. "Bell bell bell bell bell!" The pokémon giggled.

"I've never seen anything like this folks! We all know Bellossom are ticklish, but I've never seen that taken advantage of in battle! What do you make of all this Homer?"

"Oh yes." A voice replied, clearly scoffing down food. "It's a spicy tart… I mean mighty smart idea."

Realising their strategy had failed, Abomasnow's trainer gave up on the non-stop leer attack. "Help out Bellossom! Use Blizzard!"

"Glaceon! Ice shard!"

The two ice type moves clashed. At first they appeared to be evenly matched, but due to the cheering of the crowd Abomasnow's Blizzard began to push back Glaceon's bombardment of ice shards.

"Hugo! Help! We're in big trouble."

Hugo sighed. "Aw, I was enjoying that. Well I guess the fun's over." He snapped his fingers and Shinx immediately knew what to do. It stopped tickling Bellossom and took advantage of the momentary daze the grass type found itself in. The electric type took a deep breath. "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINX!" For no more than five seconds, a stream of flames were emitted from Shinx's mouth, engulfing Bellossom as well as Abomasnow standing a few feet away. When the flames were gone, both Pokémon collapsed on the floor with swirly eyes, unable to endure the super effective attack.

The referee appeared to be stunned for a moment before coming to her senses. "Bellossom and Abomasnow are unable to battle. The winners are Shinx and Glaceon and the match goes to Hugo and May!"

For the first time since the battle began, the crowd's booing had been silenced… well, almost. 90% of the crowd just looked surprised.

"Incredible! Shinx has somehow pulled off a move it isn't usually able to learn. Could we be looking at the results of incredible training or just an immensely talented Pokémon. Homer?"

"My guess would be booze… I mean both."

* * *

After the battle, Hugo and May were walking through the tunnel to leave the arena.

"You didn't tell me your Shinx knew flamethrower."

"Oh yeah. Maybe I forgot to mention that." He scratched his cheek with a sheepish smile.

"Great work." Commented Brock as he approached with Dawn and Ash. "They know to take you seriously now."

Hugo winked at him. "I don't fancy working in a kitchen for the next year or so."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ellie and her granddad were sat in the crowd. Ellie was boasting about her easy second round victory but her grandfather was ignoring her as he had something on his mind. "The more I look at that young man the more I'm convinced I've seen him before. Could it have been that one time, all those years ago…?"

* * *

"Now it's time to start our third round! And boy, we have a surprise in store now folks! Each of our 32 remaining contestants will now face off against their partner from the previous round."

"WHAT?!" Exclaimed Ash and Dawn.

"WHAT?!" Exclaimed May and Hugo.

"Yes, that's right! The very same people who just worked together will now have to put their newly formed friendships aside as they duke it out for a place in the fourth round."

"You know what this means?" Dawn said with confidence. "It means Ash Ketchum's tournament will end here." She smirked.

"We'll see about that." Ash replied energetically, already pumped up for his next battle.

* * *

"…Finish it with wing attack!" "Ravia!" Ash's staravia scored a direct hit on Piplup, who fell to the floor. "Come on Piplup! You can get back up!" "Piiiiiip..." Piplup used all its strength to try and get back to its feet. "...Luuuuup." Its strength ran out and it laid down with swirly eyes.

"Piplup is unable to battle. The winner is Staravia and the match goes to Ash Ketchum!"

"WE DID IT!" Ash leaped into the air in celebration while Pikachu imitated him by his side as always.

He walked over to a slightly sad Dawn who was nursing her Piplup. "That was a good battle. Thanks for giving it your all. Hope you don't feel down about losing.

She smiled at him. "No need to worry. Now I can put all of my focus on the Wallace cup."

"And there we have it. We're down to the last eight in block A and Ash Ketchum has to have a great chance of winning it and progressing to the grand final."

"I wouldn't slurp pies… I mean I wouldn't be surprised if he did, Mario."

"Onto block B now and we've got some red hot battles coming your way! Starting with the mysterious Hugo up against May from Hoenn, who's already received quite a bit of stick from the crowd so far in this tournament. Can she continue to ignore the crowds and pull off a win here?"

Hugo and May arrived at opposite ends of the battlefield. As usual, boo's could be heard throughout the stadium. Hugo felt sorry for May but there wasn't really much he could do to help her.

"THREE...TWO...ONE...GO!"

"Kabutops let's do this!" "Glaceon take the stage!"

"It's Kabutops versus Glaceon. Begin!"

"Let's hold nothing back May! Kabutops slash!"

"You betcha! Glaceon shadow ball!" Glaceon launched a ball at Kabutops. With impressive timing, it managed to whack the ball upwards with its powerful claws. It then leaped towards Glaceon, slashing at it and scoring a hit. Glaceon's body was launched backwards slightly, then out of pure bad luck the shadow ball attack came back down to the ground and happened to land on Glaceon.

"Oh no! What misfortune! Hit by its own shadow ball!"

Glaceon was already struggling. It fell to the floor looking hurt.

"WOOOOO!" The crowd bellowed. "STAY DOWN STAY DOWN STAY DOWN!" Hugo was usually happy to have fans on his side, but under these circumstances he didn't like it one bit. He knew Glaceon had the strength to stand up, but it was really struggling to. "Come on Glaceon! Get up!" Glaceon battled against gravity is it did its best to stand.

"Come on! Now's your chance! Finish it!"

"What are you waiting for? Use slash again!"

"This is the perfect opportunity. Attack!"

The crowd began to grow anxious. They were desperate to see the Hoenn native defeated.

Normally, Hugo would've leaped at the opportunity to finish off his opponent, but he knew the only reason Glaceon couldn't get up was because the crowd were getting to its head. He shook his head in the negative. After a moment, Glaceon got to its feet at last.

"What's this? In a display of mercy, Hugo has allowed his opponent time to recover!"

"BOOOOOOOO!" The crowd weren't happy with this move. Hugo smiled. It felt good to help a friend.

"Thanks, but now we'll turn this around. Glaceon use secret power!"

Glaceon began to charge up its attack.

"Kabutops! Slash one more time!"

The prehistoric Pokémon began to sprint towards Glaceon, anticipating being hit by secret power and ready to defend. Unexpectedly, the attack never came and Kabutops scored an easy hit with slash. Glaceon fell to the floor with swirly eyes.

"Glaceon is unable to battle. The winner is Kabutops!"

"YEAH! WOOOOO! TAKE THAT HOENN!"

"Great work Glaceon, return."

'Something wasn't right there.' Hugo thought. 'It shouldn't have taken that long to charge up secret power. Something wasn't right with Glaceon. It must've been the crowd.'

"We can still win! Blaziken take the stage!" May's impressive starter Pokémon appeared in all its glory.

Hugo smiled. "That's the spirit. Hippopotas let's do this!"

"Hippo!" The ground type looked extremely delighted to be getting some more action.

"Hippopotas versus Blaziken will now begi-woah!"

As the referee started the battle, a member of the audience threw a rock onto the battlefield. It struck Blaziken directly in the forehead. If this were a Human, it could've easily killed them but thankfully most Pokémon, especially fully evolved ones, are much tougher. Nevertheless, Blaziken was left in a daze.

Members of security immediately ran after the culprit who was some fool in the crowd looking pleased with himself as he was taken away in handcuffs.

"Oh no! Blaziken has been hit! Luckily, it appears okay to battle."

"Are you okay Blaziken?" May asked in a concerned tone. "Blaze!" It replied, implying it still wanted to battle. Hugo still thought something wasn't right though…

"Well if you're happy, so am I! Let's start with blaze kick!" May ordered.

"Take down!" Hugo ordered.

Blaziken launched a poor Blaze kick. It was slow and sloppy, Hippopotas was able to trip Blaziken up with its take down attack. Blaziken was left lying on the floor.

"This isn't right." Hugo said. "If we have to fight under these conditions, I don't want to participate.

He waved towards the referee. "Hey!" "We want to throw in the tow..."

Before he got the chance to finish his sentence, more objects were thrown into the arena. For the second time, a rock hit Blaziken, this time on the back of its head. Its eyes turned swirly.

"Blaziken is unable to battle. The winner is Hippopotas and the match goes to Hugo!"

"YEEEEEEEEAH!" The crowd want absolutely crazy. More objects were thrown towards May as she returned Blaziken to its pokéball.

"Oh dear folks. Such a shame the battle had to end that way. Hopefully security will sort this all out before the next match."

Fearing for May's safety, Hugo sprinted across the battlefield, grabbed her arm and made a run for the tunnel. Once they were safely in Hugo spoke, breathing heavily from the run.

"I'm so sorry that had to happen May."

"It's okay." She shrugged. "I wanted to be able to focus on the Wallace cup anyway."

"Still, it's not right. That shouldn't happen."

Just then, Ash, Brock and Dawn dashed over.

"My goodness, May are you alright?" Dawn asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm fine thanks." May smiled back.

"That's not cool at all, the way the crowd acted." Ash stated in a serious tone.

"That's for sure." Brock added. "At least nobody was hurt. Now come on guys, let's go watch the next match and hopefully we can all calm down."

* * *

"…And despite all the abuse she received, Linda from Hoenn has managed to progress to the fourth round. That means she'll be up against Hugo!"

"Did you hear that?" Dawn asked. "You're facing your girlfriend." She winked at him while giving a nudge with her elbow. Her smile quickly faded, though, when she saw that for the first time ever he wasn't in the mood for joking around.

"No. I can't do it." He stated. "I refuse to battle again under those conditions. I'll speak to an official and tell them I'm forfeiting."

"No!" Everyone called out at once.

"If you forfeit, we're left with only Ash in the competition." Brock explained.

"Exactly. Ash is a better battler than me anyway." He said in a sad tone.

For a moment, there was an awkward silence as everyone tried to think of something to say to change Hugo's mind.

"You're not the Hugo I know." Surprisingly, it was Ash who spoke up. "The Hugo I know wouldn't just give up, he'd think of a way to stop the crowd being so hostile. He's an expert in coming up with great ideas during a hard time."

The awkward silence returned. Hugo stared into space, having a long hard think. After a moment, his eyes widened as an idea came to him. "You're right Ash. I'm so sorry guys. I won't give up. I'm gonna win over this crowd if it's the last thing I do!"

Ash put a hand on his shoulder. "You can do it! And one more thing. You better not lose before the final!"

Hugo leapt to his feet, full of renewed energy.

"You're the best Ash." He smiled as ideas for battle strategies and other things raced through his mind.

"Sure, not long ago I didn't even know my own name. But after this is all over the whole of Sinnoh will know the name Hugo!"

* * *

 **Current teams: Unchanged**


	15. The Big Tournament Continues

**I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

"Bibarel is unable to battle. The winner is Pikachu and the match goes to Ash Ketchum!"

"Oh yeah! We did it Pikachu!" Ash leaps around frantically celebrating his victory.

"Ash progresses to the quarter final where he'll be joined by the seven other fourth round winners."

Shortly afterwards, Ash joins the gang back in the stadium. Brock, Dawn, May and Linda are there but Hugo seems to be missing.

"Congrats Ash!" "Yeah! Nice win!" "Three more rounds to go!" "You're amazing Ash!" All of them congratulated him.

"Thanks guys, but what happened to Hugo?" He asked.

"Oh. He's over there somewhere." May pointed behind them.

"Thanks. I'll go find him." Ash dashed off around the corner to try and find his friend with Pikachu close behind him as always. When he found him, he was sat in a corner using a computer.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked.

"Oh. Hi Ash. Well done. I'm just doing some research. Or trying to."

As Ash glanced at the screen, all he saw was the message "UNABLE TO LOAD" displayed on the screen.

"Turns out I'm not so good with technology."

"Me neither." Ash shrugged. "What are you trying to research?"

"I was hoping to find out more about this war between Sinnoh and Hoenn. Wanted to know what caused it so it could maybe help me stop this crowd being so angry at May and Linda."

Ash chuckled a little. "You don't need to worry about any of that. I never do. Just try your best and you'll be fine."

"Pika pika pi!" The electric mouse agreed.

Hugo smiled. "You're right man. Thanks for the advice."

Before the battle began, Hugo went over to speak to Linda. "Don't worry about that crowd. I got it covered." He explained.

"Right. Thanks." She nodded with surprising confidence. For once, she didn't seem her natural nervous self. Maybe her brain had a pre-battle mode like Ash's did.

* * *

Skipping forward to the beginning of the battle, the crowd were behaving as expected.

"BOO! LOSER! LOSER!" "YOU SUCK" "WE HOPE YOU LOSE!"

"The round four battle between Hugo and Linda will now begin."

Linda smiled. "I know what to do. Go Manectric!"

"Shinx, let's do this!" Hugo launched the pokéball twice as high as usual causing Shinx to appear several feet in the air. "Flamethrower." He instantly commanded. Shinx wasted no time and spat out a stream of flames into the air. As it did so it tilted its neck in a circular pattern causing a ring of fire to form in the air. As Shinx fell to the ground so did the ring of fire which it was now stood in the middle of.

"What's going on? Attacks aren't allowed before the referee gives them the all clear but he didn't aim for his opponent there. Did he do that on purpose?"

Over in the crowd, Ash, Dawn and May were confused as to what Hugo was doing. But Brock, being the smartest of the bunch, noticed something. Around a third of the crowd who were booing and hissing had now turned their focus onto Hugo and were instead cheering, intrigued by his unusual move.

"The fight between Shinx and Manectric will now begin."

"Stone edge." Hugo commanded. Shinx launched pointy rocks. Once again, they were fired directly upwards. When they landed back on the ground, they formed a circle around Shinx where the ring of fire was, so it was now a blazing ring of rocks.

Brock now noticed that around two thirds of the crowd had turned their boo's into cheers.

"What's going on here? Hugo and Shinx appear to be making no attempt to hit their opponent."

"Manectric! Use spark again and again!"

"Manectriiiiiic!" The electric type cried out as it began launching sparks of electricity towards Shinx. It had to aim them over the ring of fire and rocks but the majority of them landed accurately on their target.

"That's some very impressive aiming from Linda and Manectric scoring multiple hits on Shinx."

After about eight spark attacks had succesfully hit Shinx, a sly grin appeared on Hugo's face. "Now's our chance."

Shinx, who appeared to have taken zero damage from the attacks, suddenly began to glow yellow. Then, a ball of electricity was launched upwards at a high speed from its body.

"Vine whip." Hugo ordered.

What happened next was an unbelievable display of skill. Without moving an inch, one by one Shinx launched balls of electricity into the air at a good pace, then used its vines to whack them while they were high in the air straight towards Manectric. The electric type was taken completely by surprise by this rapid attack and did a very poor job of dodging the attacks. In total on two of the eight balls launched were dodged. Manectric looked hurt.

"Finish it." Hugo ordered with an excited grin. Shinx didn't have to be told twice. "Shiiiiinx!" It cried as clouds quickly appeared above, causing the stadium to go much darker and the main source of light to now be the ring of fire around Shinx. A powerful bolt of lightning came down hitting Manectric directly. Moments later, the clouds went away and the light levels returned to normal. When the crowd could see clearly again, they saw that most of the flames had now gone out. What they now saw was Shinx standing in a circle of rocks and at the other side of the battlefield Manectric was lying on the floor with swirly eyes, a bit of smoke coming from its body due to the incredibly powerful attack it was on the receiving end of.

"Manectric is unable to battle. The winner is Shinx!"

"I cannot believe my eyes! Shinx absorbed multiple spark attacks, then launched them upwards at twice the speed, then used vine whip to return them to their sender, then to top it off it produced an incredible thunder attack. What do you make of all that Homer?"

"All I can do now is drink this beer… um, I mean cheer because I am thrilled to watch this guy battle. I don't know what's more impressive; the fact that Shinx knew a bunch of moves it shouldn't have, that it defeated an electric type with only electric type moves, or that it did all of this without moving at all. You could say this is one world class Pokémon, but I'd say credit also has to go to the

trainer."

The crowd were loving the display.

"Wow. Hugo's getting so much love right now." May commented.

"Told you there was no need to worry about him." Bragged Dawn.

"He's showing them he's not to be messed with!" Added Ash excitedly.

"Not just that Ash. Look what he's done. Listen." Brock pointed out.

Indeed, Brock was right. As the gang listened to the roar of the crowd they noticed that now not a single boo or insult could be heard. The crowd were fully focused on cheering for the exciting battle taking place.

Back on the battlefield, Hugo smiled at the pokéball he'd just returned Shinx to. "You're something special buddy."

"It's not over yet!" Linda reminded him from the opposing end of the battlefield. She looked happier than he'd seen her as she was finally able to battle without the nastiness that had been such a burden to her until now.

"Go Exploud!" "EXPLOOOOOOUD!" The normal type bellowed at an incedible volume, which only seemed to excite the crowd further.

"Time for some fun. Kabutops let's do this!" The prehistoric Pokémon looked eager for battle as it appeared from its pokéball.

"It's Kabutops versus Exploud. Begin!"

"No messing around. Use stomp!"

The 5 foot tall, powerful Exploud sprinted towards the 4 foot tall Kabutops and raised its leg as high as it could, about to kick Kabutops.

"Mud shot!" Hugo ordered. Kabutops launched a spray of dirt on the bottom of Exploud's foot. The resistant force of the mud slowed down the attack successfully. "EX-PLOUD PLOUD PLOUD PLOUD PLOUD" The Pokémon laughed a very loud laugh at the ticklish sensation of the mud on its foot as it slowly overcame the mud shot to land a very slow and ineffective stomp attack.

"PLOUD PLOUD PLOUD!" Exploud clutched its belly as it couldn't help but keep on laughing.

"Oh no!" Linda gasped. "Why do you have to be so ticklish?!"

"Take the chance." Hugo ordered as Kabutops showed no mercy. It hit Exploud with a powerful slash attack. The normal type's guard was so low that it was unable to do anything about that attack. To add insult to injury, it couldn't regain its composure in time to avoid the second slash attack that came shortly after the first.

"Quick! Hyper voice!" Badly injured and knocked to the ground, many in the stadium were surprised when Exploud still pulled off a strong attack. "EXPLOOOOOOUD!" The scream was almost deafening.

"It's a shame to do this, but use surf."

Hugo spoke very quietly compared to the bellowing sound coming from Exploud's mouth, but his unbreakable bond with Kabutops meant the rock and water type could understand what he wanted anyway. Tanking the hyper voice attack, the shellfish Pokémon summoned a wave of water that grew in size quickly. Exploud's reactions were severely hindered by the fact that it was still concentrating on its hyper voice attack. This meant Kabutops was able to score yet another direct hit.

When the surf attack ended, Exploud was lying on the ground with swirly eyes.

"Exploud is unable to battle. The winner is Kabutops and the match goes to Hugo!"

"YEAH!" "WOO!" "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

"This fellow is something else." Commented the waiter from somewhere in the crowd. "The more I watch him, the more sure I am..."

"An extremely impressive display. The resilient Linda has been on the receiving end of a thrashing here."

Despite her defeat, Linda appeared to be happier than she was after all the battles she'd won earlier in the tournament.

With a smile on her face, she walked over to Hugo while the crowd roared around them.

"Thank you." She said. "They were so mesmerised by your Shinx, they lost all their hostility and I was able to focus on enjoying the battle. And wow, you were in a league of your own."

"Thank you for the battle and your kind words." Hugo replied as they walked through the tunnel together.

"Well, since I've lost I better continue on my journey as soon as possible." She decided aloud as they reached the end of the tunnel where the gang were all waiting.

"I know my departure is sudden, but thanks a lot for your help guys. Good luck in the quarter final Ash and Hugo." She no longer seemed uncomfortable around Hugo for some reason, which Brock noticed.

"Take care Linda." Said Ash. "I hope I can battle you too someday."

"Goodbye, nice knowing you." "Farewell, enjoy your travels." Said Dawn and May.

"That's the spirit. Get straight back to action." Hugo smiled, feeling somewhat relieved he wouldn't have to speak with Linda about any 'feelings'. "See you."

As she began to walk away, Brock approached her. "Hey, can I just have a quick word before you go?" He asked when they were around the corner so Hugo and the gang couldn't hear them.

"I just need to know. Did you… you know… like Hugo?"

Surprised by his straight-to-the-point question, Linda's eyes widened.

"Ew. Yeah right. I just get super intimidated by tall people. I guess I got used to him in the end, but no thanks. I have a boyfriend already."

With that, she turned around and made a quick exit, leaving Brock standing alone for a moment. He was silent for a few seconds, until…

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! That's hilarious! I'm definitely not telling him!"

Brock started absolutely laughing his head off, causing many fans within the stadium who were walking around to give him funny looks.

* * *

"And here we are folks! Just eight contestants remain as we head into the quarter final stage. We're ready to determine who will face who…"

Suddenly, a lot of noise can be heard from within the commentary box as it sounds like a lot of items are clumsily knocked over.

"Hey guys, I'm bored. Let's spice things up a bit."

"Well, it seems we have a special guest joining us here. It's the popular man from right here in Glorious town, Phil!"

"Alright lads, how about this? Instead of our usual round why don't we have a double battle? But I want to be able to choose my partner. We could make it so one partner is from block A and the other from block B." Phil spoke with a very manly voice.

"That sounds like a good idea, Phil, but I'm afraid we can't just change the rules at one person's request..."

"Nonsense! If Phil wants something Phil gets something! Let's do it."

"I hear you Homer, but we can't… hang on a sec, my phone's ringing. Hello? Why hello boss. What's that? Phil's awesome so let's just do whatever he says? Okay. Right away. Bye…"

Hugo and Ash were sat in a lobby room with May and Dawn after hearing the news of the rule change for the next round.

"This is great you two! You're going to be partner with each other, right?" Chirped May.

"With those two together, there's no need to worry about not reaching the semifinal." Agreed Dawn.

Before either of them had the chance to say anything, a familiar character ran in. "Ashy!" They cried.

Before anybody had any time to react, Ellie practically leaped onto Ash's lap, almost crushing Pikachu who had to leap out of the way.

"You'll be my partner, won't you?" She asked in the softest voice she could. "I can't wait! The two of us fighting side by side conquering all thanks to the strength we get from our love for one another… of course, I'm the strongest."

"Uh… Um..." Ash struggled to string a sentence together in response.

"Sorry sweetie, but Ash is gonna battle with Hugo. They've known each other way longer than you've known Ash." Explained Dawn.

"You'll just have to find someone else." Added May.

"Shut up Hoenn girl!" Ellie snapped, still sat on Ash's lap. "It's my Ashy's choice, not yours. And he chooses me, don't you honey?" She picked up a startled looking Pikachu and began to stroke it despite how the electric type clearly didn't want to be stroked.

"Actually, I was going to battle with Hugo. Sorry. Maybe we can team up some other time?" Ash finally said.

Ellie chuckled a little. "That's funny dear. For a moment there I thought you said you didn't want to be with me."

"No. Of course not. I love battling with anyone. But Hugo is my good friend, and..."

"WHAT?!" Ellie sounded mortified as she tossed Pikachu aside and leapt to her feet.

"You!" She glared angrily at Hugo. "This is your fault! I hate you!" She stormed off with a furious expression on her face. As she stomped as loud as she could she angrily threw several unoccupied chairs across the large open room, creating a scene and getting funny looks off many passers-by.

Pikachu rubbed the bruise it had obtained by being thrown at the ground while the gang all sat in an awkward silence, feeling uncomfortable about what had just happened.

Just then, happy whistling could be heard as the door opened from the bathroom next to them and Brock walked out. "Hey guys. Did I miss something?"

* * *

"Welcome back viewers, it's now time for our quarter final draw. The contestants have split into four pairs meaning we have two juicy double battles to look forward to. And it seems the first match will be Ash Ketchum and Hugo against Chad and Phil. That means the second match is Ellie and Hannah versus Ray and Violet. I'm excited by these two thrilling encounters. Any predictions Homer?"

"I predict that Ash and Hugo are gonna have to be on top of their game to stand any chance against seemingly unstoppable Phil."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ellie and her granddad were having an argument.

"It's all that idiot's fault. Granddad! Can't you do something about him?"

The waiter gave her a look as though he was tired of having too many arguments with her. "Look! There's something special about that boy. I believe I have indeed seen him before, when he was much younger. The more I watch him battle, the more sure I am. I'm so sure, in fact, that I'm considering getting in contact with your aunt to let her know I may be paying her an urgent visit."

Ellie's anger seemed to subside very fast as she instead now looked confused. "Huh? What are you on about granddad? You haven't spoken to her in years..."

The granddad/waiter gave off a faint smile as he interrupted Ellie's sentence. "Yes. I know what you're about to say and you're right. But there's something she may need to know concerning that young man in this tournament..."

* * *

"This is gonna be so awesome!" Ash said excitedly as he walked beside Hugo through the tunnel into the battle arena.

"This is the one you've all been waiting for folks!" After Ellie and Hannah's victory in the first match it's time to decide who will join them in the semi final. On my right we've got Ash and Hugo, and on my right it's Phil and Chad. Who will pull through in this much anticipated double battle?"

"Okay you four." The referee began to explain. "On the count of three, you'll all select a Pokémon from your party. Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

Right on cue, they all launched a pokéball onto the battlefield with the exception of Ash, who jumped around excitedly as Pikachu jumped off his shoulder. All three pokéballs hit the ground at once, revealing Shinx, Vaporeon and Machamp.

"No surprises here as all four competitors send out their signature partners."

"The battle between Pikachu and Shinx, and Vaporeon and Machamp will now begin."

"Let's go Vaporeon! Rain dance!" Chad ordered as Vaporeon began dancing around, causing clouds to form above the stadium and within seconds rain was falling.

"Time to execute the plan!" Ash announced loudly as he and Hugo began to pull off the move they'd been planning.

"Volt tackle!" He ordered as Pikachu began to run. "Pika pika pika pika pika pika PIKA PIKA!" It cried as it sprinted towards Machamp. Confidently, Machamp stood still preparing to retaliate. "Karate chop!" Phil ordered. Machamp's hand quickly moved down towards Pikachu. It seemed as though it was about to hit but in the last second Pikachu made a sharp turn and began charging towards Vaporeon, this intelligent move caused Machamp's attack to completely miss as its hand simply hit the ground.

"Now. Thunder." Hugo called out to Shinx. With perfect timing, a powerful bolt of lightning descended down from the clouds. Thanks to Vaporeon's rain dance Shinx was able to execute the attack almost instantaneously as opposed to taking a few seconds as thunder normally would.

To the surprise of everyone in the stadium except Ash, Hugo and their friends the lightning bolt just missed Vaporeon. At the exact moment that Pikachu's volt tackle made contact with Vaporeon, Shinx's thunder attack scored a direct hit on Pikachu. This caused an overwhelming supercharged volt tackle to hit Vaporeon, who didn't possess the speed to move out of the way in time.

A huge electrical explosion occurred at this time, making quite a lot of noise. When the electricity had cleared, Vaporeon was on the floor with swirly eyes, its blue skin covered in black patches from the powerful attack it had received.

"Unbelievable! Vaporeon was annihilated by that combined super effective attack."

"Oh no Vaporeon I hope you're alright. I'm really sorry Phil!" Chad said in a sad tone.

"Hahahahaha!" Phil bellowed in his usual manly voice. "Don't sweat it my good man. Machamp can easily handle this on its own."

"YEAH! WOO! GO PHIL GO!"

"And what a roar from the crowd! Phil will need all the support he can get as he now has to handle a 2 on 1 fight."

"Let's hit him from opposite sides!" Hugo explained to Ash. With Vaporeon defeated and its rain dance gone, their previous attack couldn't be used a second time.

"Okay Pikachu, quick attack!"

"Stone edge!"

"Scary face then multiple karate chops!" Phil ordered. Machamp gave Pikachu an intimidating glare as it was sprinting towards him. Completely startled, Pikachu stopped dead in its tracks. Then, with an incredible display of agility, Machamp turned 180 degrees and began swinging its arms at the incoming stone edge attack. It gave every single stone a powerful whack, launching them all upwards above its head. Then, when they fell back down it began swinging its arms. With its left arm it launched the falling stones towards Pikachu and with its right it launched them towards Shinx.

The two electric types had no chance of getting out of the way in time and were bombarded with stone edge attacks.

"A powerful counterattack. I wouldn't be surprised if the battle is over after that…wait, wow! Unbelievable! It appears both Pikachu and Shinx are still standing!"

Covered in bruises with gritted teeth, the two Pokémon rallied on.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Ash ordered as Pikachu shot a jolt of electricity. Not many in the stadium were surprised when it was aimed directly at Shinx.

"Vine whip!" Hugo ordered. Revitalised by the electricity it had received, Shinx summoned two fast vines. The vines attempted to whip Machamp, who retaliated by blocking with its hand. Big mistake. As soon as Machamp's hand touched the two vines, a powerful jolt of electricity shot up from Shinx's body, across the vines and onto Machamp's hand, electrocuting it. Unlike earlier, this attack definitely dealt damage. To make matters worse for Machamp, it was still being bombarded by vines.

"Quick attack!" Ash ordered. With Machamp distracted trying to block the vines, Pikachu took the opportunity to hit Machamp from behind. It rushed into one of its legs, sending a surprised Machamp sprawling onto the floor.

"This is thrilling stuff! Phil's strategy is usually to defeat his opponents with a single blow. He's not used to them still having so much energy after taking a hit."

"Gaaaaah!" Cried Phil as he ripped his shirt off, revealing his overweight body. "We can still do this!" He cried out with confidence. He began to frantically perform somersaults and cartwheels, desparate to burn his excess energy. Neither Hugo nor Ash had any idea how such a chubby man could be so acrobatic.

Reacting to its trainer, Machamp gave off a roar. "MACHAAAAAAAMP!" From its lying position on its back, it grabbed the two vines that were annoying it so much. With two hands on each vine it ripped the ends off, causing them to shrink back into Shinx's body. As it did this it leaped to its feet.

"Now's our chance!" Phil commanded as Machamp began sprinting towards Shinx with an intimidating glare fixated on it.

"Flamethrower!" Hugo ordered. Shinx began to breathe a powerful flame that engulfed the lower half of Machamp's body. Incredibly, unlike any opponent Shinx had ever faced, Machamp seemed completely unfased. It continued sprinting towards Shinx, literally running into the flamethrower attack. As it was a few steps away, it leaped into the air, just about to slam its fists down on Shin

"Uh oh." Hugo said. He seriously doubted his electric partner would survive this…

"Pi-ka-CHUUUUUUUUUUU!" Somehow, Pikachu was riding on Machamp's shoulder. Taking it completely by surprise, it dealt a poweful blow to Machamp with thunderbolt. Machamp was launched further through the air than it had intended to jump. It landed on its front just behind Shinx. With Pikachu stood proudly on the back of its shoulder, it laid there with swirly eyes.

"Machamp is unable to battle. Pikachu and Shinx are the winners and the match goes to Ash and Hugo!"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEAH!" Despite their favourite competitor being defeated, the crowd were still going absolutely berserk.

"YOU WERE AWESOME PHIL!"

"YOU'RE THE BEST PHIL!"

"YOU ROCK P-MAN!"

"This has to be the shock of the tournament! The heavy favourite, Phil, has been defeated in the quarter final stage."

"I have to add, I thought that result would be as unwanted as the salad that came with my pizza last night but the crowd seem to actually be pleased."

"That's right Homer. They appear to be praising Phil for putting up such a good fight, while also cheering for the winning pair."

Suddenly, the crowd was silenced by…

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Phil screamed at the top of his lunges while on his knees with his head in his hands.

An awkward moment of silence occurred while everyone in the stadium was staring right at Phil. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet with a much happier expression.

"Now that that's out of my system, thanks for the fight guys." He walked around the arena, shaking the hands of Chad, Hugo and Ash. He then decided to send out a Charizard, jump on its back and within seconds they were above the stadium, flying away and out of sight.

Another awkward silence occurred as everyone wondered what was up with the strange indivudual. After a moment, the crowd seemed to decide they no longer cared.

"YAAAAAY!" They all continued to cheer about the exciting battle.

Meanwhile back in the arena, Hugo, and surprisingly Ash, were very calm. They walked towards the tunnel. When they met up they gave each other a high five with a smile and a nod. If they both won their next match, they could face each other in the final.

Over in the crowd, Brock was impressed. "Well well well, when Ash came to me before the battle and said he was going to try and match Hugo's battle style, I didn't think he'd be THAT good at it. That boy is something else. That's exactly why I've been travelling with him for all these years."

* * *

Meanwhile, a familiar trio were walking through some woodland in an unknown location.

"I can't believe it!" Fumed Jessie. "James loses in the tournament, and we're blasted off so far away we can't find our way back."

"I don't know what's worse." Added James. "That, or that this is the third time we've only appeared right at the end of the chapter!"

"Cheer up you mugs, it could be worse." Meowth said optimistically.

"Worse? We're lost, hungry, and deprived of screen time. How could it be worse?!" Jessie demanded to know.

"Well, um… at least it's not rainin'!" Meowth replied. As soon as he did so, a heavy downpour began to occur. Tired moans could be heard from the Rocket trio as they collapsed on the floor, too exhausted and hungry to continue walking.

Just as things looked bad, rustling could be heard from a nearby bush and a tall man around Hugo's height emerged.

"Oh dear. You guys look hungry. Come on, I'll take you over to our village and get you some food. I'm sure you'll like it. It's known as the village… of giants." The man explained in a friendly tone.

* * *

 **Current teams: Unchanged**

 **No Vaporeons were harmed in the writing of this chapter.**

 ***Promises release in first half of June.**

 *** Releases at 11:57PM, June 15th.**

 *** Epic win.**


	16. The Big Tournament Reaches Its Climax

**I have made an improvement. This Chapter took 30 days as opposed to the previous chapter's 40 days. This one's longer too. I'll aim to keep improving. Anyway, if you notice any spelling errors, grammar errors or plot holes in this chapter please let me know with a PM or review. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

"...I still can't believe Ash did it. He's gotten even better since our days in Hoenn." Said May, mid-conversation.

"And so convincingly too. He's got to be the favourite to win the whole thing now." Replied Brock.

"There are only three contestants left now, and two of them are Ash and Hugo!" Rejoiced Dawn.

"Welcome folks! This is the second semi-final of what's been a long, incredible tournament! Over the weekend we've seen everything from very close matches to total thrashings. The contestants are all determined to win that big cash prize. So much so that one of them even attempted to steal it! Now it comes down to the last two battles. The first is between Ellie, who has hardly been challenged all the way from to the qualifiers to the quarter final, and the increasingly popular Hugo. He's overcome many challenges to make it this far. Much like Ash's Pikachu, they both possess a Pokémon yet to taste defeat in this tournament: Ellie's rare Heatran has appeared in every round so far and defeated every opponent with ease. Meanwhile, Hugo's Shinx has an incredible move-set like no other Shinx in the Pokémon world. It looks like we're ready to go. Both contestants are in position. Any final words before we begin, Homer?"

"It's going to be a feast for the stomach… um, I mean eyes!"

"UGH!" Ellie grunted, moments before the battle began. From across the battlefield, she began to speak to Hugo.

"I have to stare at your ugly face for the next few minutes?! Why can't you just forfeit so I can get to see my Ashy sooner?! I'll defeat him while maintaining my astonishing beauty then he'll be so impressed he'll whisk me away on a romantic holiday. On the beaches of Alola we'll have such a great time..."

"Shinx, let's do this!"

"Oy! How dare you interrupt me?! Heatran will make you pay for that!" Ellie angrily launched Heatran's pokéball while Hugo showed no sign of emotion on his face.

"The semi-final match between Ellie and Hugo will begin now!"

"Stone edge!" Hugo ordered. It came as no surprise to the audience who were now used to Hugo's unusual tactics when the stones were launched directly upwards. Strangely, one stone was at an angle and was on course to land behind Heatran.

Start it off with heat wave!" Ellie did a spin to show off as she gave her order.

A bright orange ball appeared from Heatran's mouth and it launched a gust of flames that spread out and shot towards Shinx.

At the same moment that the flames were about to hit it, the stones were now falling down towards Shinx. The elecrtic type showed a nice display of acrobatics as it leaped at the last moment. It kicked off one stone and then another, using them as platforms to jump high enough, over the heat wave attack.

"Vine whip!" Hugo ordered.

"Aw how cute. A grass type move. That will do nothing to Heatran." Ellie boasted.

Her bragging was abruptly stopped, however, when she saw that the attack was not aimed at Heatran. The vines wrapped around the stone that was still falling behind heatran. Using it like a swing, Shinx successfully swung onto the surprised Heatran's back.

"Mission succeedeed. This battle is as good as over." Hugo finally cracked a smile, looking pleased with his strategy.

"What a genius move!" Brock gushed over Hugo from within the crowd.

"I don't get it?" Questioned Dawn. "So Shinx got on its back, what's the big deal?"

"You see, Heatran isn't a particularly large Pokémon." Began Brock. "It rarely comes across strong oppositionas small as Shinx. Therefore, Ellie is unlikely to have trained it to battle against opponents that jump on its back. This is the type of training you are much more likely to do with large Pokémon like Onix, Dragonite or Snorlax."

"Wow. I didn't realise he was that smart." Commented May. "He's almost like Max, but older, stronger, faster, WAY taller, greedier, better eyesight… okay, he's nothing like Max."

"Shake it off! Shake it off!" Ellie's face went red from anger as she threw a tantrum, stomping her feet.

"Thunder." Hugo ordered. Shinx summoned a powerful bolt of lightning. As it was still on Heatran's back, there was nothing the fire and steel type could do to get out of the way. The bolt hit them both, causing severe damage to Heatran while putting a wide grin on Shinx's face.

"Another thunder, with more finesse this time!" Hugo smiled, enjoying his dominance. Heatran was still trying to shake Shinx off while it received a second powerful blow.

"No way it's surviving that." Hugo predicted with confidence.

When the attack finished, he was surprised to see Heatran still standing.

"Third time's the charm."

"I hope my Ashy is watching this. Fire spin!"

Suddenly, as Shinx was attempting yet another thunder attack, a tornado of fire was summoned around Heatran and Shinx.

"Smart move, but it won't work."

Shinx's powerful jolt of thunder shot down from above, ripping a hole in the tornado. For the third and what proved to be final time the attack scored a direct hit. Heatran collapsed as Shinx casually hopped off its back and strolled over to its trainer, beaming a happy smile.

"Heatran is unable to battle. The winner is Shinx!"

"Yeeeeeah! Nice one buddy!" Hugo called out.

For a good ten seconds, Ellie was stood motionless with her mouth gaping. Then, a look of anger overcame her face. "NO NO NO NO NO! IT'S NOT FAIR! YOU CHEATED! NOBODY BEATS MY HEATY WEATY!" Hugo cringed at her nickname for Heatran. Her face was bright red from anger. She stormed up to the referee and got right in his face. "HE CHEATED! DISQUALIFY HIM IMMEDIATELY!" She screamed.

The referee's face went red too, but from embarrassment rather than anger. "But every move used in this battle has been perfectly within the rules..." "LIES! ALL LIES! I QUIT! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY YOUR SILLY GAME ANY MORE!" And with that she promptly stormed out, only just remembering at the last moment to return her partner to its pokéballl.

Everyone waited for a full minute. There were confused mutterings from the crowd that were getting louder and louder. It was becoming obvious that she had no intention of returning.

"Well, by way of forfeit, the winner of the second semi final and moving onto the final is Hugo!"

"HOORAY!" Cheered the crowd. They had enjoyed the six rounds he'd endured to make it to this point.

* * *

"I can't believe it. Who'd have thought it'd be Ash against Hugo in the final?" Asked Dawn.

"That means no matter what, we'll be able to pay back that restaurant owner and go free!" Chirped May.

"About that." A voice called, catching the gang's attention.

"After your battle, we need to talk." To everyone's surprise, it was the person who'd gotten them into this mess in the first place. The waiter who'd been so rude to them in the restaurant. When he spoke, he was looking directly at Hugo.

"I've been watching you, boy. I have some information you'll certainly find valuable. Before then, though, I need to go and calm down my granddaughter." He began to walk away. "Remember, win or lose, I'll be waiting."

"Well there's some great news!" Said Brock, after the man was gone. "We may be able to find out more about you, Hugo."

"Finally!" Added Dawn.

"That's awesome!" May chimed in.

"Great! But don't let curiosity distract you in our battle." Ash said in his usual excitable manner.

"Like that was ever going to happen." Replied Hugo with his mind in competitive mode.

"Did you see that?" Whispered Brock to May.

"See what?" She inquired curiously.

"That look in his eye. He's got a plan."

* * *

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for! It's Sunday night which means it's time for the final round of the Glorious Town Tournament. Homer, how do you feel about the competition almost being over?"

"It makes me feel fattened… I mean saddened. However, I am on the edge of my seat looking forward to what promises to be the tournament's most action-packed battle."

"I couldn't agree more! And here they are now. Hailing from all the way over in Pallet town, Kanto we have Ash Ketchum with his ever-present companion Pikachu. Could the big cash prize be his? If it isn't it will go to the mysterious Hugo. His crazy battle strategies have caught the eye of many, and his super-intelligent Shinx is possibly even on Pikachu's level when it comes to battling. This will be a good battle."

"You're going down Ash!" Teased Hugo.

"We'll see about that!" Ash called back.

"The final battle between Ash and Hugo will now begin."

"Kabutops, let's do this!" Kabutops tapped its long claws together in anticipation.

Hugo was fully aware of Turtwig's advantage over Kabutops, but he also knew Ash very well, and Ash loved to fight on even ground. Who would he send out? Buizel was his best bet.

"Heracross I choose you!"

"What?!" Exclaimed Hugo.

"What?!" Exclaimed Brock, Dawn and May.

"What?!"Exclaimed most of the crowd.

"I knew it!" Cried Homer the commentator.

"Your prediction was spot-on Homer. Ash appears to have assembled a team containing Pokémon we haven't yet seen in this tournament."

"I should've known." Hugo grinned.

"No messing around! Let's go! Use Hyper beam!" Ash called out.

"Dodge!" Hugo ordered. Unfortunately for him, though, Heracross was way too fast and a powerful beam hit Kabutops. Critical hit!

Kabutops was knocked down to the floor and by the time it was back on its feet Heracross had recovered.

"Ha! We're just getting warmed up!" Taunted Ash.

"Surf!" Hugo called out.

"Megahorn!" Ash retaliated.

As Kabutops summoned a fast growing wave, Heracross charged towards it. Using its powerful horns it cut a hole in the wave, managing to strike Kabutops from below. The shellfish Pokémon hurtled to the ground, looking like it was in pain.

"Could Ash's quick thinking battle style prove too much for Hugo? At this stage it looks like a resounding yes."

"Focus punch!" "Slash!"

Heracross readied its fist, as Kabutops got up and charged towards it. As it got within a few steps, Heracross was about to punch.

"Up!" Ash ordered with a smirk.

"Uh-oh." Said Hugo.

Ash had figured out Hugo's plan. Kabutops leapt as high as it could in an attempt to slash from above. Big mistake. It received a powerful, super-effective hit from below. It was flung through the air.

"Finish it!" Ash commanded.

It seemed like overkill, but Heracross launched another powerful hyper beam before Kabutops even landed. The powerful attack was too much for Kabutops, who fainted.

"Kabutops is unable to battle. The winner is Heracross!"

"YAHOOOOO!" Roared the crowd.

"Incredible! I expected an even fight but Hugo was unable to even land a single hit before it was defeated. And now Hugo really has his work cut out for him as he will need to win 2 consecutive rounds or Ash will be crowned champion."

"Wow! Ash is on fire!" Commented May.

"He's not going easy, that's for sure." Added Dawn.

"It seems like Ash's years of battling experience are proving too much for Hugo. But we'll have to wait and see. This battle's not over yet..." Brock thought aloud.

"Looks like it's time. Shinx! Let's do this!" Hugo shouted, anticipating an epic battle with Pikachu.

"Interesting choice." Ash said through a huge grin. He glanced down at Pikachu.

"Prepare yourself buddy, this is your toughest opponent yet." Warned Hugo.

"True, but it's not the opponent you expected. Gdonphan I choose you!" Ash launched his pokéball, summoning his second Johto Pokémon in a row.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Brock. "Smart move."

"I don't get it." Said Dawn. "What's so smart about using Donphan?"

"Hugo was convinced Shinx would be battling against Pikachu. Therefore, he'll be super prepared for it. He's probably not so prepared for Donphan." Brock explained.

"Since when did Ash acquire a brain?" Asked May.

"The battle between Donphan and Shinx will now begin."

"Huh. You've made a mistake Ash. You've made Shinx mad. It wanted to battle Pikachu."

"Mistake? Yeah right! Donphan use hyper beam!"

"Again?! What's with all the hyper beams today? Shinx flamethrower!"

Donphan launched a beam of light while Shinx spat out a stream of fire. The two attacks clashed midway, cancelling each other out.

"Ha! Now Donphan needs to recover. This is our chance! Get in there close!"

Shinx ran over to Donphan, standing nice and close.

"Good call!" Brock exclaimed.

"Huh? Care to explain?" Asked Dawn.

"Sure. Donphan's signature move is rollout, and the move it just used is hyper beam. Neither of those attacks are a good idea from close range since hyper beam is quite slow and rollout requires momentum."

"Huh. You're smart Brock."

"Thanks."

"Vine whip!" Called Hugo.

"Defence curl!" Called Ash.

Donphan curled into a ball just in time to protect itself from the onslaught of vines. It received minor damage.

"Bummer. Wasn't expecting that move." Complained Hugo as he scratched his head contemplating his next move.

"He let his guard down. Earthquake!"

The ground began shaking violently. Shinx struggled to stay on its feet, receiving damage.

"Tough it out buddy. You can do it!"

Due to its lack of experience being on the receiving end of earthquake, Shinx was unable to keep its footing and fell to the floor. By the time it was up again Donphan has fled to the other end of the battlefield.

"Rollout!" Ash commanded, delighted to have pulled it off.

Shinx tried to run away but it was no use. The Donphan's rolling was too fast. In the last second Hugo ordered "Vine whip!"

Shinx once again whipped Donphan with 2 vines, but they simply got trapped underneath the elephant Pokémon's rolling body. This caused Shinx to be pulled in and feel the full force of the rollout attack.

"A mistake by Hugo! This surely means it's all over! No question over who's been the better trainer in this battle."

Shinx was sent skidding across the battlefield floor, causing dust to rise in the air. Bruises were visible all over its body.

Most eyes in the stadium were now focused on Hugo to see his reaction.

"Now." He commanded.

Shinx leaped high into the air.

"Stone edge!" Hugo called out. Pointed stones were launched all around Donphan in a small circle.

"Hyper beam!" Ash called out, still surprised by Shinx's sudden burst of energy.

"Thunder!" Hugo called out as Shinx fell back to the floor. A powerful jolt of lighting blocked the path of Hyper beam's light, causing it to be deflected back towards Donphan. In the process, some of the sharp stones were launched back at the ground type too. It was unable to move out of the way in time and received damage.

"No rest! Vine whip!" Donphan was still on its back from the previous attack when it received a super-effective hit from the vine whip attack. It was launched back, slamming against the stadium wall underneath the crowd at the edge of the battlefield.

"Somehow, Shinx found an incredible burst of energy when I thought it was out for the count. Surely Donphan is down for good?"

It wasbreathing heavily yet somehow Dophan found its feet. Shinx was breathing equally heavily as both Pokémon tried to intimidate the other with a glare and an excited look on their face.

"Finish it with hyper beam!" "Finish it with flamethrower!" They ordered at the exact same time.

The two attacks clashed midway just like at the beginning of the battle. They appeared even at first, but after some time, Shinx's flamethrower began to push back Donphan's hyper beam, eventually overwhelming it. The ground type was hit by flamethrower and instantly fainted. Shinx was left standing, battered in bruises and breathing heavily.

"Donphan is unable to battle. The winner is Shinx!"

"YEEEEEEEEAH!" Roared the crowd.

"I cannot believe what I just witnessed folks! What a topsy-turvy battle. Somehow, Hugo is still in this fight and it's tied at one win each. This next match-up will be the decider for the whole tournament."

"I should've known Shinx would pull off something crazy like that." Brock said. "If there's one thing this tournament's taught me, it's that if I were a betting man I should bet on Shinx."

"Pikachu I choose you!"

"Hippopotas let's do this!"

"The roles are reversed. This time it's Ash with the electric type and Hugo with the ground type. What could this one have in store?"

"The battle between Pikachu and Hippopotas will now begin!"

"Quick attack!"

Immediately, Pikachu sprinted over to Hippopotas and slammed into it with its body.

"Iron tail!"

Pikachu slammed Hippopotas with its metal tail, sending it hurtling into the air.

"Quick attack!" "Crunch!"

Pikachu leapt at Hippopotas, while it was being flung through the air, the hippo Pokémon chomped with its mouth… but it missed. Pikachu landed another hit. Hippopotas was lauched fast into the wall at the side of the battlefield. When it landed, it was on its back.

"Pikachu showing off its incredible battling abilities! Is Hippopotas out for the count already?!"

"Looks like Pikachu's too much for Hugo..." Commented May.

"It's not like Hugo to be beaten so easily..." Added Dawn.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Look!" Brock pointed at Hippopotas.

The ground-type began to glow.

"Ah! Hippopotas! It's..." Ash began.

"Sweeeeeeeet." Hugo realised what was happening.

The flash of light vanished, and Hippopotas was bigger now. "Hippowdon!" It cried.

"Now I've seen everything! Of all the times to evolve! Can Hugo turn this around with his upgraded power?"

"That's great Hugo. Now you can-" "Yawn!"

"Hey! I'm not that boring am I? Oh wait..."

"In a rare mistake, Ash was too busy admiring the evolution and let his guard down for Pikachu to be hit by yawn."

"Just a matter of time now Ash!" Hugo grinned.

"Doesn't matter. It'll be over before then! Iron tail!"

Pikachu sleepily ran towards Hippowdon, its tail turned metal as it began to swing… "Fire fang!"

With perfect timing, Hippowdon bit Pikachu's tail. The powerful flames caused damage to Pikachu, who was flung back. It landed on its feet, but very quickly it was on its front snoring.

"Show no mercy! Earthquake!" The ground shook violently, damaging Pikachu.

"Sand tomb!" Pikachu was encased in sand, taking damage.

"Earthquake again!" The ground shook again, and sleeping Pikachu took even more damage.

"Ha! Finish it with-" At that moment, Ash turned his cap backwards. "Quick attack then iron tail!"

Incredibly, Pikachu suddenly burst into life, perhaps even more incredibly Ash seemed to know exactly when this was going to happen. The electric mouse slammed into Hippowdon then hit it with a lot of power with its metal tail. Hippowdon could take no more, and laid on the floor with swirly eyes.

"Hippowdon is unable to battle. The winner is Pikachu and Glorious town's new champion is ASH KETCHUM FROM PALLET TOWN!"

"YEEEEEEEEAH! WE DID IT!" Ash pulled off his signature victory pose.

"Nice one Hippowdon. That was awesome." Hugo comforted his partner as he returned Hippowdon to its pokéball.

"YEEEEEEAH! ASH ASH ASH! ASH ASH ASH!" The crowd chanted.

"And there we have it folks! Ash Ketchum from Pallet town is the new champion of Glorious town. Homer. Any thoughts on our new champion?"

"Yeah, I..."

"Hello! I've got an 18 inch super thick pizza with extra toppings."

"Pass it here please. Ooh. Yum yum."

"Homer! This is not an appropriate time to be scoffing down a pizza."

"You're right. How foolish of me."

"Thank you! Now let's get back to-" The sound of a beer can opening could be heard.

"That's better. You were right. I need something to wash it down."

"That's not what I meant. UGH- this has been Mario and Homer at Glorious town's big annual tournament. Until next time viewers, just remember..."

"NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!"

"FORGET IT! I QUIT! HE'S IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK WI-" This was the last thing that could be heard before the commentary team were cut off. The credits started rolling and extremely cheerful music could be heard. In the background it was showing behind the scenes. A large bold man was sat in the commentary box with a huge smile scoffing down a pizza, while another, much skinnier man was throwing a tantrum, pushing over the studio's tables, chairs and cameras.

* * *

"As the mayor of Glorious town, it is my honour to present you with the cash prize of 10,000 pokédollars."

Jumping around with ridiculous energy levels, Ash celebrated his victory. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Meanwhile, Hugo rejoined the gang in the crowd.

"Nice try man. It was a close battle." Brock offered his condolences.

"Thanks mate. Pikachu is something else. So is Ash."

"You can say that again."

"Pikachu is something else. So is Ash."

"Very funny."

* * *

"...But this is 10,000 pokédollars. You only owed us 9!" Exclaimed the restaurant owner.

"Consider it an apology. It can be used to fix your roof." Ash explained.

The restaurant owner paused for a moment, then…

"Thank you thank you thank you!" He threw his arms around Ash, embracing him in an awkward hug.

"I whole-heartedly apologise for all the trouble we put you through. Next time you visit our restaurant, you get half price, okay?"

Ash turned around to see Brock, May and Dawn frantically shaking their heads side to side as if to say 'No no no no no!'

"Thanks for the offer." Ash replied.

* * *

"Now it's our turn to take the spotlight." Dawn began to explain to May. "The Wallace cup is about to begin." The gang were back on the road, heading out of Glorious town.

"Maybe I should take part too." Ash decided. "To keep my winning streak going." He turned to Hugo, expectantly.

"No chance!" Hugo exclaimed.

"I'm with you on that one." Brock agreed.

Just then, a voice hailed them from behind.

"There you are. Did you forget that I asked you to meet up with me?" Ellie's grandfather was there.

"There is something I need to tell you young man." He looked directly at Hugo. "I believe I've seen you before, am I right?"

Hugo gave him a look of obliviousness.

"As I suspected. Don't remember, huh? Well, perhaps this will refresh your memory..."

The old man held pulled a photo out of his pocket. There were a group of people smiling at the camera. On the furthest left was the old man himself, looking a little younger. Next was an adult woman. She had black hair that was tied up. She was taller than him, easily over six foot. The third person in the picture was… Hugo. At least, it certainly looked like him, just a younger version. The Hugo in this picture appeared to be roughly 5 or 6 years old. A very tall 5 or 6 year old, that is. There was definitely a fourth person on the photo, but the picture was ripped. Only the edge of this person's body was visible. It appeared that this person was about the same height as young Hugo. Looking at their right arm, they had the same pale skin too. Everyone in the photo was dressed lightly, in vests and shorts, indicating it was a hot summer's day.

"Do you recognise the people in this picture?" He asked Hugo.

"I-I..." Hugo began. He tried really hard to remember something. Anything. A sharp pain overcame his brain when he made the effort. Every second of trying to remember rapidly drained his energy. "...Feel funny." Drifting out of consciousness, he fell backwards. Luckily Brock managed to catch him before he hit his head.

"This photo was taken on a rare warm day about 14 years ago when I was visiting my daughter. It remains my most recent visit."

"Care to explain more?" Asked Brock, still holding Hugo.

"I believe I should introduce myself properly. My name is Charles. The woman in this photo is my daughter, Elain. She's also the aunt of my granddaughter Ellie. If the child in this picture is indeed your friend, then that would make her his adopted Mother."

Suddenly, Hugo sprang to life, full of interest.

"His adopted Mother, you say?" Asked Dawn.

"Yes. There was you, Hugo is it? Then there was another kid she adopted too, but I can't remember in much detail, so much time has passed. I think the other kind is in this photo too, but sadly it got ripped in an accident one day while I was making a sandwich."

The gang all wondered how he managed to rip a photo while making a sandwich, but decided not to bother asking.

"Elain..." Muttered Hugo.

"How long has it been since you last saw her, Hugo?" Charles asked.

"Stop." Brock grabbed Hugo by the hips in an attempt to stop him from trying to remember.

"It's a long story." Ash explained. "You see..."

Ash began to explain everything about how Hugo had lost his memory.

"I see." Answered Charles, when the story had been told.

"Believe it or not, I've heard of legends of a Pokémon that can cause memory loss. Ironically, though, I don't remember much detail about it."

"In that case, young Hugo, I'd like to do you a deal that would be beneficial to both of us. I can take you home. To see Elain. All I ask in return is for your protection."

"I don't understand-" Replied Hugo.

"Meet me in Snowpoint city. Two months from now. Then we'll talk more."

With that, Charles took his leave, leaving the gang stunned by his revelation.

"Um… not sure what to say to that." Said May, breaking the silence.

"I'm sure. I want to keep supporting Ash with his battles and Dawn with her boardskating for the next two months."

"Boardskating?! You're getting even worse at pronouncing it!" Fumed Dawn.

"I know what to say, May." Said Ash.

"What's that, Ash?" Asked May.

"Let's go find somewhere to eat!" Ash exclaimed, and with that he began to run off down the road.

* * *

A week had passed since Ash's victory in Glorious town. Since then, Ash, May and Dawn had entered the Wallace cup. In the end, Dawn ended up taking first place after defeating May in a dramatic finale. We rejoin our heroes at the boat docks. May is preparing to depart.

"Thanks for everything guys! It's been fantastic! I've learned so much! Time to go back to Hoenn for a while to rest, then back to Johto to continue my journey!"

"You know, I'd forgotten what it feels like. That wonderful feeling of competing in a contest and truly becoming one with your Pokémon." Said Dawn.

"Well you better hold onto it Dawn, because next time I'm winning for sure!" Replied May.

"Was a pleasure to meet you." Said Hugo.

"Don't forget, you can dine all over the world but you won't get my cooking." Bragged Brock.

"Hey May, good luck with the rest of your Johto contests." Added Ash.

"Bye everybody!" She waved as she boarded the boat.

The gang began to walk away from the docks.

"Hey look! Lumineon in the water! How beautiful!" Called out Dawn.

"That's truly a sight to behold. Look at their elegant dives and spins!" Commented Brock.

Just then, a familiar woman speed-walked past them, appearing to be headed for the same boat as May.

"Hey, it's Linda!" Exclaimed Dawn.

"Oh, hi and bye guys. No time to talk, I have a boat to catch."

"Okay, have a safe journey. But before you go, look at the beautiful Lumineon. Remember them when you think of Sinnoh.

Linda glanced over at the Lumineon and gave out a loud gasp of surprise then suddenly fell forward, about to faint. Luckily Hugo was there to catch her before she hit the ground.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Thought I remembered something… just for a moment. Oh well. Goodbye guys!" She darted off, eager to make it to the boat in time.

"Huh. I was meaning to ask how she got that scar. Oh well. Guess we'll never know." Shrugged Brock.

* * *

"Okay Lumineon! I just caught you, so if you want to be ready in time to compete in the Glorious town tournament you need to train hard, understand?"

Little did Linda and Lumineon know, they were being watched.

"That's it! You're doing great! Keep it u-"

"ATTACK!" Boomed a voice.

A strange, dark creature pounced at Lumineon.

"Woah! What's going on?! What are you doing with my Lumineon? Stop that!" Linda darted over to the creature in an attempt to get it off her new partner.

As she got close, a dark arm stretched out, slashing against Linda. It scraped against the side of her face, leaving a cut on her face. She was knocked onto the floor, landing in a pile of mud. In a daze, she sat up, rubbing the mud away from her eyes. When she stood up straight she opened her eyes and looked around. It was quiet. Nobody was around. "Huh?!" Linda exclaimed. What was I just doing? I seem to have forgotten. "And how did I get so dirty?! Why does my face hurt?!" After a moment's pause, she thought she had it figured out. "That's it. I was on my way to the next town when I slipped and hit my face on a rock." Just like that, she continued walking, searching for somewhere to wash the mud off.

* * *

"Ugh! Back to being the only girl here." Dawn complained.

"Ha! You know you don't have to come with us. You could always go find some girly girls to go shopping with and stuff." Hugo teased, earning a slap around the face.

"Shut up, idiot!" Dawn argued.

Just then, three familiar characters appeared in front of the gang.

"Did you miss us while we were gone?" Asked a female voice.

"Our villainous schemes are number one." A male voice continued.

"On the wind!"

"Past the stars!"

"In your ear!"

"We went someplace that you'd like to go."

"Will we tell you where? The answer is no."

"We heard a secret we're not gonna tell."

"The only way you'll find out is with a mindreading spell."

"Jessie!"

"And it's James!"

"Meowth! That's a name!"

"The place where we've been is quite far away."

"But Team Rocket's back to grab Pikachu today."

"Hooray!"

"Wooooobbuffet!"

"So what's the plan today guys? Stand there completely defenceless?!" Asked Hugo.

"Oh, uh, we were so excited about our new-found knowledge, I guess we forgot to make a plan." Explained James.

"WE?! Dat's not true you numbskull! You were da one who said day'd make a plan!" Meowth said accusingly to James.

"Now you're making us look like fools!" Jessie snapped at James.

"Oh, well, uh, here's my plan. It's to… do that thing… and then..."

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

A bolt of electricity was launched towards Team Rocket, sending them flying into the air.

"We're blasting off again!" They cried out as the disappeared into the distance with a twinkle.

Ash spoke up. "Okay, time to hit the road again guys. I don't know what's in store for us next, but I do know one thing."

"What's that?" Asked Dawn.

"We'll face it together." Ash explained.

"Awwww that's cute." Mocked Hugo as he briefly removed Ash's hat to ruffle his hair. He enjoyed doing this as Ash couldn't do this to him since he couldn't reach.

"Now I'm hungry, last one to the pizza place has to order a small one!" Hugo sprinted off.

"Hey! That's my line!" Ash called out as he Dawn and Brock joined in the race, sprinting off into the sunset as fast as they could.

* * *

 **It took 16 chapters, but Hugo finally evolved a Pokemon! Next chapter will be based around a particular anime episode.  
**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash - Pikachu, Gligar, Turtwig, Chimchar, Buizel, Staravia**

 **Dawn - Piplup, Aipom, Pachirisu, Buneary**

 **Brock - Croagunk, Sudowoodo, Happiny**

 **Hugo - Shinx, Drifloon, Kabutops, Hippowdon**


	17. Get Your Rotom Running!

**I do not own Pokemon. If I did, the 20th movie would've featured Brock, Misty and Dawn.**

* * *

Some time has passed since the gang parted ways with May. We rejoin our story at a quiet location. There is a big building, seemingly deserted. Three familiar characters are sneaking in, in search of the ingredients for a popular snack known as gateau.

"Yummy stuff dead ahead! Da goold ol' Chateau, home o' da good ol' gateau." Meowth exclaimed as they approached the building.

"With nary a troubling trace of twerps." Jessie chirped.

"And by putting our tummies in gear there won't be a trace of gateau for them!" James boasted.

"The early team catches the dream!" Said Jessie.

"Excellent scheme!" Agreed James.

They began to realise how quiet it was.

"The lack of busy bustle gives me pause." Fretted James.

"I've got a sinking feeling in my empty stomach they're closed." Said Jessie, disappointed.

"Sounds like a good deal to me! As soon as we CLAW our way in dere." Meowth ran over to the door and picked the lock with his claw.

"Ooh, nice word play." Commented Jessie.

"And claws play too!" James piped in.

"As long as everyone out dare knows not to try dis at home." Meowth stated as the lock came undone.

"Now for a scream test..." Decided Jessie, preparing herself.

"HELLO IN THERE?!" They cried, receiving no response.

"It's just the gateau and us!" Jessie decided.

"Then no muss, no fuss!" James added.

"I like this. A self-serving self serve joint." Meowth remarked.

* * *

"Feast your eyes on the lovely Old Chateu." Brock pointed over to the building as the gang walked past.

"Wow. So stately and pretty." Dawn said.

"So let's check it out!" Decided Ash.

"Hey! You aren't planning on a visit to the Chateu now are you?" A passerby asked.

"Yeah that was the plan." Ash answered, halting their walk to listen to the man.

"Well it's closed. About a week ago a storm came and took out the power lines. But there are these rumours..."

"What kind of rumours?" Dawn asked.

"Rumours of a ghost roaming the empty halls of the Chateu! They're alive with shadows that seem like they're moaning give me more gateu!… of course, that's just a silly old rumour. Take it easy!" The man promptly strolled off, getting on with his day.

* * *

Team Rocket were busy on the search for food.

"Nada! Zippo! Nary a gateu..."

"Oh blast the spare cupboard." Jessie moaned.

"I'd be happy with a bagel." Meowth groaned.

"I'd be happy with a bagel wrapper." James complained.

"Eureka! Some Haribo's with my name on them… and not theirs. I'll hide this for later." James secretly hid the treat he found in a microwave.

"Ah! Chocolate is a girl's best friend. Now don't go anywhere, we've got a date." Jessie secretly hid the treat she found in a fridge.

"Wow it's a single yummy cookie! With da emphasis on single… I'll just pack dis away for later consumption. Hehehe!" Meowth secretly hid the treat he found in an oven.

"The agony of ending empty handed. Shall we?" James gestured towards the room's exit, acting suspiciously cheerful.

"'Tis with an empty heart we part." Jessie agreed, acting suspiciously cheerful.

"Even crooks need to know when to hold 'em or fold 'em." Meowth also agreed, acting suspiciously cheerful.

"Then fold we will." Jessie said happily. They all began to stroll out of the room.

"Ya know, maybe we can learn sometin' from dis." Meowth said happily.

"Win a few, lose a few." James said happily as their distance from the room began to increase.

"I can't believe we came up empty glovered." Jessie said happily.

"Of course!" James suddenly exclaimed. I just remembered something I have to take care of!" He dashed back into the room.

"Whatever it is, I can take care of it." Jessie dashed back into the room.

"Hey I'm da go to Pokémon and you know it!" Meowth dashed back into the room.

"Waah! My Mars Bar's gone!" "My Haribo's have gone bye-bye!" "The old cookie crumbled!" They all exclaimed, realising their snacks had been stolen.

"So, what's all this Haribo talk?" "A crumbled cookie you say?" "Mars bar, what's the deal?" They all asked each other.

"None of your business! You just give me back my Mars bar now!" "As soon as you give me back my candy bar!" "COOKIE!"

Just then, they all noticed a fridge with eyes was staring at them.

"That's unique." "A mobile refrigerator." "Yeah! Without wheels!"

"Roooo-torororo!" The fridge cried as it attacked.

* * *

"I guess they really are closed." Dawn said, disappointed.

"That means we all just made a long trip for nothing." Brock said, disappointed.

"And I'm really hungry too." Hugo groaned.

"Not as hungry as I am." Ash moaned.

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

Just then, the door creeped open.

"If no-one's here, then who opened the door?" Brock asked nervously.

"You don't think it could've been a ghost, do ya?" Ash asked nervously.

"Don't… be silly. Dawn replied nervously.

"You're right. It was probably the wind." Ash agreed nervously.

"Pi?" Pikachu wandered as it dashed into the building.

The gang were all left with little choice but to follow the electric mouse inside.

"Pikachu, you can't just run into buildings like th-" Ash was interrupted by the sound of a generator turning back on as the power was fixed and the rooms of the building were lit up.

"Welcome to the Old Chateu..." "Oh! Sounds like an automated message that plays through the speakers." Brock realised.

"...You can have a go at making the world famous gateu."

"Ah! We can make the gateu ourselves?" Dawn remarked happily.

"Let's do it!" Brock decided.

Hugo sat on the floor, clutching his stomach. "I don't know if I can wait that long..." He complained again.

"Alright, just leave the prep to ol' Brocko!" Brock said with high confidence levels.

"Great! Guess Pikachu and I will get some training in!" Ash decided as he and Pikachu grinned excitedly at each other.

"Then Piplup and I will get in some work toward our next contest!" Dawn decided.

"Ugh… I'm too hungry to move.." Groaned Hugo.

"Do you ever stop moaning? Come help us if you've nothing better to do." Dawn offered.

"Ugh… no thanks. I've got a better idea..."

* * *

"Chimchar use flamethrower and Pikachu dodge it!" Ash was in the garden training.

Chimchar used flamethrower which Pikachu was able to dodge, but unfortunately it hit a nearby lawnmower.

"Oh no. What've we done now… huh?" Before Ash's eyes, the lawnmower turned orange and grew a face.

"Rooooo-totototo!" "WAAAAAH!" Ash, Chimchar and Pikachu were chased by the lawnmower. They sprinted away, back inside.

* * *

"Buneary dizzy punch!… Huh?" A sudden breeze caught Dawn's attention inside the building somewhere.

"I don't remember a fan being there…" She walked over, turning it off. "Let's carry on. Piplup bubblebeam!" Piplup fired bubbles but they were blown sideways by the fan. When Dawn turned around the fan was now orange and had a face. "Rooooo-totototo!" "WAAAAAAH!" Dawn, Buneary and Piplup sprinted off, chased by a fan.

* * *

"This is gonna be awesome." Hugo excitedly prepared for his stunt. He was at the top of the long stairway, holding a baking tray. Shinx was standing beside him and Drifloon was floating above the bottom of the stairs.

"Now!" He called as he placed the tray down on the edge of the stairs. Shinx stepped on the front and he stepped on the back. "Wooooah!" Man and Pokémon worked in harmony trying to maintain their balance. "Waaaah!" Hugo lost his balance and was shot off sideways. He bounced off the railing then began sliding down the stairs on his bum. "ow ow ow ow ow ow" He said as he slid. "Shiiiinx!" His partner happily exclaimed as it slid all the way to the bottom on the baking tray. At a fast pace it crashed into a nearby washing machine, the door flung open and Shinx fell inside. Meanwhile, Hugo landed hard on his bottom at the bottom of the stairs.

"Drifloon! You were supposed to help if that happened!" Looooooon!" Thanks for nothing, now I have a huge pain in my..." He was interrupted by the sound of a washing machine turning on. He jumped to his feet and wandered over to the washing machine. Shinx was inside it, getting wet and being spun around and around. It looked like it wasn't enjoying the experience.

"Shinx… you're..." "Shiiiiiinx!" It called out in displeasure.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hugo was rolling around on the floor clutching his stomach. He was crying from laughter. "Looooooooon!" Drifloon exclaimed, floating behind him.

Suddenly, the noise of the machine running stopped and Shinx was spat out, its body being lainched at Hugo's face which stopped him from laughing. The electric type looked pleased to have gotten its revenge.

Hugo pulled Shinx off his face and sat up. The washing machine was now orange and had a face. It began spraying water aimed at them.

"WAAAAAAH!" Hugo and Shinx legged it while Drifloon floated closely behind. "Loon?" It wondered what was going on, even though they were clearly being attacked by a possessed washing machine.

* * *

"WAAAH!" Ash, Dawn and Hugo all sprinted back into the kitchen with their Pokémon close behind. They slam the door shut behind them.

"You three look like you've seen a ghost." Brock smiled.

"You don't know how right you are!" Ash answered in a panic.

"That's just what we saw! Pika! Piplup pip! Buneary! Dawn and the Pokémon backed him up.

"Sounds to me like your imagination's at work." Brock said calmly as he continued to work on his cooking.

"You're wrong! We're sure!" Ash was sure he was right as they waved their arms around in a frenzied manner.

"We were chased by a ghost fan..." Dawn began.

"And a ghost lawnmower." Ash continued.

"And a washing machine." Hugo finished.

"Let's get out of here quick!" Ash panicked.

"This is no time to leave. It's time to eat." Brock picked up the gateau out of the fridge. As he turned around to show it, the fridge turned orange and acquired a face.

"WAAH!" They all called out.

"Huh?" Brock turned around, seeing a regular fridge. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked as he turned back around.

"Look behind you Brock!" Ash shouted in an even more panicked state.

Brock turned around and looked at the regular fridge again. "It's a fridge, what's your point?" He asked as he turned back around.

The fridge once again turned orange with a face.

"Loooon!" Drifloon, seeming cheerful as always, accidentally knocked Brock's plate of food out of his hands. The plate smahshed on the floor but luckily Brock's Croagunk, who had been helping him cook, was there to catch the tray of food which had been on the plate. "Oh dear. I'll have to clean up that mess now." Brock said as he bent down with a dustpan and brush.

As he did this, behind his back he could hear "Rototototototo!" "WAAAAAH RUN FOR IT!"

"Very funny guys, I know you're doing this as a prank..." He turned back around to see that everyone was gone and the fridge was still there as normal. "They actually expect me to believe this fridge is haunted? It's just a regualr fridge..."

Meanwhile, Ash, Dawn and Hugo were running away from what was now a possessed microwave.

"Thunderbolt! Bubblebeam!" Pikachu and Piplup attacked while they ran, and a strange looking Pokémon was knocked out as the microwave turned back to normal.

"Hold on." Ash whipped out his pokédex. "Rotom, the Plasma Pokémon. Rotom plays practical jokes, which it carries out by embedding its plasma body in electronic devices."

"Devices? Like, appliances?" Dawn asked.

"Wonder if everything that's been goin' on's the work of just that one Rotom, y'know?" Ash wondered.

Rotom floated around the corner, and a second later they were being chased by another possessed lawnmower. "Rototototo!"

"Quick, up the stairs!" Ash called.

They dashed up the stairs, where they were greeted by an orange washing machine with a face.

"Quick, outside!" Hugo called.

As they approached the door, Team Rocket sprinted over from the opposite direction. Ash bumped straight into James and they both fell down. Dawn bumped straight into Jessie and they both fell. Hugo tripped over Meowth. As he fell, a pokéball fell from his belt, landing on the floor behind him.

At that moment, totally unaware of the scenario, Brock ran in holding the tray of food. "Hey guys what's with all the commo-WOAH!" Brock slipped on the pokéball that was on the floor, dropping the tray of gateau but luckily it landed upright. The ball was launched across the room, slightly above the ground, until it hit a fridge that was in the middle of the room for some reason. The ball activated, absorbing something out of the fridge. It wriggled for a few moments and then stopped.

"Um… what just happened?" Asked Dawn.

"It appears the tall twerp has hit a spot of twerpish luck." Answered James.

"So da ghost was a Pokémon all along?! Dose pranks were wrong!" Snapped Meowth.

"We're not welcome, that much is clear..." Jessie began.

"...So we'll take this gateu and be out of here!" James finished.

Meowth grabbed the food as the trio exited the building and began to run for it.

"Hey! Come back here! Pikachu, Thunderbo-" "Wait Ash, they've got the gateau, don't ruin it." Brock reminded Ash.

"Oh man, what do we do?!" Ash was stumped.

"Maybe I could try this?" Hugo grabbed his pokéball from the middle of the room and launched it as far as he could out of the door. It landed just in front of Team Rocket. Rotom appeared, with a mischievous smile.

"WAAAAAH!" Team Rocket cried, as they turned around, running in the opposite direction, back to the Chateau. They were so focused on escaping from Rotom that they failed to notice that Piplup, Pikachu and Croagunk were now stood outside, waiting for them.

"Iron tail!" "Pika!" Pikachu whacked the tray of food out of Meowth's hands, into the air.

"Now, thunderbolt!" "Bubblebeam!"

Croagunk heroically leaped up and caught the tray while the villians met their fate.

"All I wanted was to take just one bite, but now instead we take flight." James complained as they were launched through the air.

"It would've been a delight!" Jessie added.

"Dat sounds about right!" Meowth agreed. "But now..."

"We'll be blasting off all night!" They cried in unison as they disappeared into the air and a twinkle appeared.

* * *

"Rotom! Rototototo! Rotom Rotom!" The ghost and electric type floated closely around Hugo, inspecting its new trainer.

"Well, I guess we're partners now. Welcome to the gang Rotom!" Trainer and Pokémon were both happy to have formed a new partnership.

"Unbelievable! You haven't caught any of your Pokémon properly!" Dawn shook her head in disbelief.

"Not true! I caught Drifloon properly… kinda."

"No you didn't!" Dawn argued.

"Okay, you're right..." Hugo admitted defeat.

"Awesome! I've never caught a ghost type before, and now you have two! I hope Rotom won't go around pulling so many pranks on us all the time though." Ash was excited by their new addition.

"Why not? The more pranks, the more I can laugh at you guys."

"What are you talking about, guys? I didn't see any pranks..." Brock was confused.

Just then, something tapped Brock on the shoulder. He turned around and saw an orange washing machine with a face staring at him with a mischievous grin.

"WAAAAAAAH!" Brock sprinted off out of the building, flailing his arms about. Croagunk was close behind, holding the gateau above its head.

"Huh, I wonder what else it can haunt..." Dawn wondered.

"Maybe it can haunt a Pokédex and be able to talk, and it will have a really annoying voice and really get in your face when it tries to tell you Pokémon facts all the time." Hugo pondered.

There was a pause of silence for a moment, until…

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ash, Dawn and Hugo all burst out laughing.

"A talking Rotom! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Ash managed to say between his laughter.

"As if that'll ever happen!" Agreed Dawn. "It's about as likely as Ash abandoning us, never seeing any of us again, losing in three more leagues then going to school to goof around."

They all laughed at their ridiculous ideas for a while.

"Anyway, let's find Brock and eat!" Hugo decided.

"Hey, that's my line!" Ash called him out.

The pair of them sprinted off down the path, shoulder barging each other to try and get to the food first. Dawn followed with Pikachu and Piplup at her feet. The day they would meet up with Charles was getting close.

* * *

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash: Chimchar, Grotle, Staravia, Gliscor, Buizel, Pikachu**

 **Dawn: Piloswine, Pachirisu, Buneary, Ambipom, Piplup**

 **Brock: Sudowoodo, Happiny, Croagunk**

 **Hugo: Rotom, Hippowdon, Drifloon, Kabutops, Shinx**

 **Next chapter begins the final (but longest) arc of the story. I'm also working on something else!**


	18. The Village Of Giants

**Wow. 8 weeks. I have no excuse other than that my life got busy. I'm back now though, and I'm confident there will never again be an 8 week gap between chapters. Anyway, enough of this, on with the fic!**

* * *

We join our heroes some time after their encounter with Rotom. Brock, Pikachu and Dawn were sat on a bench in a quiet park in the outskirts of snowy Snowpoint city wearing their winter gear, watching with embarassment their friend in front of them. Ash and Hugo were both onto their fourth sandwich already as they competed in a 'game' Hugo had made. They had to complete a 'food obstacle course' around the park but really Hugo had just set out plates and bowls with large quantities of food for them to scoff down as they raced around the park. Ash was wearing winter gear similar to Brock's but Hugo was still in his usual vest and shorts much to the amazement of his friends. He claimed he wasn't cold.

"Woo! I win!" Ash punched the air in triumph as he finished the last obstacle which was a bowl of noodles.

"No way! I finished first, right Brock?" Hugo looked to his friend for acknowledgement of his victory, but to his disappointment Brock only chuckled softly, wise enough to know not to get involved.

"You two are an embarrassment!" Dawn called out accusingly.

"Well well well. We meet again." An old man's voice called. It was Charles! He'd managed to walk over to them without being noticed and was now stood behind the bench Brock and Dawn sat on. He was more sensibly dressed than Hugo with a thick black coat and white gloves on. "I can see you're quite accustomed to the cold, young Hugo. Not a surprise considering where you grew up. Come on now. We have a long walk ahead of us. No way can a vehicle make it through such deep snow."

Hugo wondered where they were being taken, but rather than asking he figured he'd just wait to see in person. "Thanks for taking us Charles. We can't wait to find out more about Hugo!" Ash said as the party of five began their walk away from Snowpoint City along a steep uphill path. Ash was ridiculously impressive. He could be a frontier brain yet he'd turned down the opportunity. He was apparently some 'aura guardian' too. What other crazy things could this young man achieve? He certainly had a bright future. Hugo respected him immensely.

Hours passed on their trek. Conversations flowed among the group as the terrain seemed to become increasingly hilly. Hugo deliberately didn't ask Charles where exactly they were going or whether he knew anything else about him. He wanted to see if he'd start remembering anything since he was apparently getting closer and closer to 'home'.

Meanwhile, the group were being stealthily followed by a certain trio…

"I-i-it's a b-b-bit c-c-cold out here..." James complained as his teeth chattered.

"I w-w-w-wonder w-w-why..." Meowth said sarcastically as his teeth also chattered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Jessie beamed as she hogged all the warm clothing to herself, wearing at least five layers of coats that made her look quite chubby. She also wore three pairs of gloves, two scarves and a woolly hat.

"Why don't you two stop your whining and start some climbing?" Jessie asked, pointing to a nearby hill that might be able to give them a good view.

The three crooks scrambled up the steep snowy cliff, not using any teamwork or co-operation to support each other in their struggles. This lead to all three of them slipping and sliding all the way back down to the bottom.

"You two are useless!" Jessie snapped. "I might as well go solo!"

"Oh yeah? I don't see you at the top of that hill!" James replied angrily.

"I just slipped that's all. I'm still better at climbing just like everything else."

"Um… yous guys..." Meowth tried to grab their attention, with no success.

"Everything else?! Name one thing that you can beat me at!"

"Yous guuuuys!" Meowth tried again, still no success.

"Everything! I'm just the best! Deal with it!"

"GUYS, LOOK OUT!" Meowth screamed as loud as he could. Jessie and James turned around to see an avalanche approaching from above. "RUN FOR IT!" The trio cried.

"What's that sound?" Charles asked, turning around. A look of realisation appeared on his face as he cried "AVALANCHE! RUN!"

The gang all sprinted down the hill, either not noticing or not caring that an equally panicked Team Rocket had caught up to them and were now running alongside them attempting to escape.

Hugo tried to think of ideas to help everyone out, but in the heat of the moment, the only idea he could come up with was to run as fast as he could and hope the others get away on their own. As he accelerated down the hill something caught his eye; the entrance to what appeared to be a cave on the right. He contemplated whether it would make a good hiding spot for a moment until – THUMP. Someone bumped into him from behind. This knocked Hugo off his balance and he tumbled down the hill, rolling into the cave he'd been starting to head towards. He landed with a THUD on the soft snow that had made its way inside the cave. Barely a second afterwards he heard what sounded like a female and a male crying "WAAAAAH!" as two others landed beside him. The next thing that could be heard was the avalanche passing by. Hugo leapt to his feet only to see that the cave entrance had been sealed off by all the snow – he was trapped!

"I don't want another go on that ride!" The female complained as she stood up.

"I'm demanding my money back!" The male complained as he stood up.

Hugo turned around to see that the two people he'd ended up trapped with were none other than Jessie and James!

"Oh no!" Jessie groaned. "Where's that Meowth gotten off to this time?"

"Who knows? But it appears this predicament concerns only me, you and the tall twerp." said James as he looked around the room.

"At least there is light." Hugo pointed up to the high ceiling which had a few small holes that let in rays of sunshine. "Don't suppose either of you have a fire type to burn the snow?"

"Why would I need a fire type?" Jessie asked cheekily. "I'm already hot enough!" She gave off a smug grin.

"I could use Shinx's flamethrower, but it can't seem to produce a flame that isn't extraordinarily powerful. Wouldn't want the cave collapsing on us. Our only choice is to explore." Without bothering to see if the two clowns would actually follow him, Hugo began walking quickly. He walked for about twenty seconds until something stopped him dead in his tracks. An overwhelming feeling of deja vu.

"I've been here before!" Hugo decided.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Jessie appeared to his left while James appeared to his right as they continued to walk again.

"Should we tell him?" James asked with a really smug grin.

"Perhaps we should." Jessie was equally smug.

"You see, twerp, we are lead to believe that this is your home!" James told him.

"And how would you know that?" Hugo asked, unsure whether to trust a bad guy.

"We get to see a lot of places and discover a lot of stuff when we're blasted off." Jessie explained.

They reached a point in the cave where there were two paths – one going left and another going right.

"We need to go left. I just know." Hugo decided, taking the left route.

The unlikely team continued through the cave. On their left they passed a sign with faded text.

'WA NI G: TH S C VE IS H ME T THE P EMON KNO AS OBLI

"What does wanig mean?" James asked, puzzled.

Jessie gave James a slap around the back of the head. "No, you fool. Obviously it's supposed to say warning.

Hugo tried to guess what it should say. "Warning: this cave is home to the Pokemon known as Obli? What's obli?"

"Hmm…" Jessie pondered. "Never heard of it." "Me neither." Agreed James, still rubbing his head after being slapped.

"It's probably just part of its name. Joblipuff? Charoblizard?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that." James interrupted. "Personally, I'd worry more about that!" Hugo and Jessie looked forwards, seeing that there were two paths heading off in different directions. From one of the paths emerged a huge, angry looking Pokémon. Abomasnow!

Without any of them having the wits about them to send out their own Pokémon, the three buffoons immediately had the same reaction. "RUN!" They all screamed.

Sprinting through the cave, an angry Abomasnow chased them, furious that its sleep had been disturbed. After at least a full minute of running away, Hugo and James find themselves at the cave exit, staring at the wonderful view before them.

"Behold twerp, your home!" James smirked. There was a vast rural area, covered in hills. Where they were now at the exit of the cave, they were atop a fairly steep cliff covered in snow. Hugo took in a deep breath, feeling like James was right; he truly was ho-THUD! His thoughts were interrupted as Jessie caught up, slamming into the back of them. "WAAAAAH!" The three of them tumbled down and down. At the bottom of the steep cliff was a drop. Perhaps Hugo could've reacted quicker and brought out a Pokémon to get him out of this predicament, but what he actually did was nothing at all. The last thing he remembered was his face about to hit the snowy ground below.

"Ugh...my head..." Hugo felt dizzy as he began to wake up. He looked around, still a little dizzy, and saw that he was lying on a bed in what appeared to be a Pokémon Centre. After further looking around he saw Jessie and James also lying on two other beds, both still unconscious. He slid off the bed onto his feet. As he did this he noticed two things; he was still wearing the same clothes, and OW his shoulder hurt. He must've landed awkwardly on it in his earlier fall.

The room he was in was fairly large but uninteresting. A total of six beds were lined up in a row with space in-between. Four were now empty as Jessie and James occupied the other two. The room was plain. White walls and a plain double door to get out. Hugo walked over to the door as he tried to ignore the discomfort he was feeling. As he pushed the door open with his good arm, he noticed something unusual; he didn't have to duck under this doorway. In fact, he wasn't even close to having to duck. He could probably have jumped and still not banged his head. Had he shrunk? Surely not. It was just a large door.

"Ah! You're awake!" A female voice called over. Hugo looked around. He was indeed in the front room of a Pokémon Centre. The woman was of course Nurse Joy. Were all Nurse Joys that tall? Hugo hadn't given it much thought before but this woman was the same height as him if not a little taller. "Sorry for the state of the centre. We don't get many people needing to come in here." She smiled. "Thanks a lot. How'd you find me?" Hugo asked as he walked over to the exit door, which was also much larger than usual. "Oh. A villager just found the three of you unconscious in the snow, so they used their Pokémon to carry you the short distance here. Trust me, you're not the first to fall from that cave and won't be the last. Hee hee." Joy giggled and Hugo smiled back as he walked out of the building.

Exiting the building, Hugo got a good look at where he was. It was a small village inside of a snow covered valley. Behind the Pokémon centre was a large cliff too steep to climb. About three quarters of a mile away was another large cliff that looked just as steep. To the left and right the hills were more climbable. The hill to the left looked very familiar…

"WOOOOOOO!" A crowd of people cheered. "I can't believe it!" "How long has it been?!" "Why did he leave again?" were some of the mutterings Hugo could make out from among the crowd. Most of them were lightly dressed despite the cold weather. They were obviously used to it. Perhaps this was why Hugo had such a cold tolerance. Another thing he noticed was that these people were REALLY tall. Almost all of them were at least Hugo's height if not taller.

A woman emerged from the crowd. She was among the shortest people present, although she was probably still around the six foot mark. She had long blonde hair and her skin was as pale as the rest of the people here. This woman was probably in her 50's. She had a couple of wrinkles but still kept an element of youth about her. She wore a plain black shirt with long black tights on her legs. Her blue eyes reminded her somewhat of Charles. Hugo got the feeling she was a relative of his.

"Hugo! At last you've returned! Where in the world of Pokémon have you been?!" She wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug that wasn't too comfortable considering he had no idea who she was.

"Um… well you see..." Hugo began to stutter.

"He's been with us!" Two voices said from behind. Hugo turned around to see that it was none other than Jessie and James.

"Quite a persistent one, this one is." James remarked. "Followed us all the way through two whole regions!"

Two whole regions? Hugo didn't know what they were talking about. He'd been in Sinnoh ever since he lost his memory.

Before anyone could say anything else, more familiar characters came running over. "HUUUUUGOOOO!" A voice called. Hugo immediately recognised it as Ash's voice. "WHERE'VE YA BEEN BUDDY?!" He shouted as he approached. At his feet was his trusty Pikachu as always, and more surprisingly Meowth, who was of course running on two legs rather than four. Following close behind were Brock and Dawn, and behind them was Charles who was walking rather than running.

"DAD?!" The woman called.

"MEOWTH?!" Jessie and James called.

"MARGARET?!" Charles called.

"HUUUUUGOOOOO!" Another unfamiliar man shouted from within the crowd.

All of a sudden, it sounded as if a million people were talking at once. Swarms of people crowded around Hugo, asking him question after question. So many questions were being thrown at him at once that he couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Everyone seemed to be speaking very quickly. Some looked happy, others looked worried, Jessie, James and Meowth appeared to be having an argument. Charles and the woman, presumably called Margaret were shouting in an attempt to hear each other over the noise. Hugo had no idea where his friends Ash, Dawn and Brock were. They were probably the three shortest people here so he had no chance of finding them. Suddenly, one voice could be heard above all others. "SIIIIILEEEEEENCE!"

Everyone shut up immediately. They all turned to look at the source of this shout; it was none other than Dawn, who looked like a dwarf standing among this crowd of tall people. She was out of breath after that shout but she looked pleased with herself. "LISTEN TO HIM!" She yelled, as she pointed her finger. It took a moment, but Hugo eventually realised she was pointing at him! All eyes were upon him now. At least fifty people were in this crowd, all giving him their full attention. Even Team Rocket were being quiet and ready to listen to whatever it was he was supposed to say. Hugo started feeling a little nervous.

"Thank you, everyone, for your warm welcome in this cold weather. You see, the thing is, while I've been gone I've sort of… lost my memory, so I don't know where this is, but I think it's the place I've been looking for in hopes of getting my memory back."

Gasps could be heard among the crowd. "You don't think he's been a victim of..." "No. Surely not!"

"The kid's obviously making this up! He wants to make us all look like fools!"

One of the older men in the crowd shouted to him. "So if you tell the truth, you know there's only one possible culprit for your memory loss, don't you?" Hugo shook his head. "Not many actually believe the tale, but there's old stories of a certain Pokémon. One that would feed off the memories of humans. Oh, what was it called now? The name escaped my memory. How ironic."

"HUGO!" A young man dashed out from the crowd and stood right next to Hugo. "I know you

don't remember me, but I'm… or I guess I was… your friend. I'm Mark!"

Hugo stared at the young man. Brown hair, brown eyes, he dressed quite smart. A collared shirt and uncomfortable looking trousers. He wore glasses too, which meant Hugo couldn't help but think of him as a sort of 'nerd' character. In terms of height, he was on the exact same level as Hugo.

"I'm sorry..." Hugo frowned and shook his head. He didn't remember this guy at all.

"Don't worry. You made me promise not to tell, but I think I need to break that promise now. I can tell you exactly what has happened! Why you've lost your memory!"

Ash, Brock and Dawn finally made their way over to Hugo through the crowd. "Did you here that?" Asked Brock. "That's wonderful news. Go on, please tell us everything you know."

"YEAH!" Yelled a member of the crowd. "WE ALL WANNA HEAR!"

"Well…" Began Mark. "It's a long story. But first I just want to say this; welcome home Hugo. Welcome to the Village of Giants!"

* * *

 **The stage is set! How much does Mark know? What will we learn? Who is our protagonist? Much will be revealed in chapter 19! You'll just just have to wait (For a time much shorter than 8 weeks) and see!**

 **Current teams:**

 **Ash, Dawn and Brock: Consistent with their teams after Ash beats the 7th Gym in the anime.**

 **Hugo - Shinx, Hippowdon, Drifloon, Kabutops, Rotom**


	19. A Familiar Unfamiliar Face

**The final battle approaches. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

(19 years ago, Village of Giants)

Margaret, a single woman in her 30's was walking through the village. She was busy working to keep their crops growing, which could be difficult given the weather. "Morning Margaret!" Hailed a voice. "Oh, hello Julie!" Margaret replied. "Lovely weather isn't it?" She said sarcastically. It was snowing as usual. "Why do you think we're only a small village?" Julie asked. "Not many people want to live here. Suit themselves though. I love it here! Of course, my favourite thing about this place is our famous spring water. So fresh and clean that it does wonders for health!" "Very true Julie." Said Margaret. "Actually ladies, I have a fact for you!" A man interrupts. He is your typical nerdy character. "The water around here contains chemicals not found in water anywhere else in Sinnoh which have been scientifically proven to boost growth in humans. It is rumoured that this chemical was spread when an Abomasnow drowned in the water long ago..."

"Aw, shut up Stewart!" Julie snapped. "Don't you have anything better to do than bother us with your useless facts?"

Stewart smiled. "Of course I do. I am preparing my house for our new arrival. Very soon, my son will enter this world. My wife wants to call him Mark. I don't like that name though. "Ha!" Snapped Julie. "We all know you Stewart. You won't say anything. You're scared of your wife even though she's so nice." "That's not true. I am going to march home right now and let my opinion be known. My son will not be named Mark and that's that!"

The two women laughed at their goofy friend as he marched off in his own awkward way. "Anyway, catch ya later Margaret! There's work to be done!" Julie said as she walked away with a spring in her step. "Toodles!" Margaret replied. She continued to walk through the village on her way to a corner shop to purchase some supplies. She walked past an alleyway and suddenly – WHOOSH! Somebody sprinted past her. She didn't quite see who they were, only that whoever it was was in a hurry.

"Huh?" She thought aloud. "What could they possibly have been doing in that alleyway? It'd a dead end." Margaret cautiously walked towards the end of the alleyway, a little nervous about what she might find. What she saw made her gasp loudly. "Oh my goodness… I can't believe this." Just then, Trevor, a local factory worker, happened to be walking past on his way to work. "Trevor! Come here! Come quick!" "Yes, what is it?" Trevor briskly walked over to Margaret at the end of the alleyway. "WOW!" He exclaimed. "BABIES!"

* * *

(Present day, Village of Giants)

"...And that's how I found you!" Margaret finished off Mark's story. It was a well known story, apparently, as everyone else has been acting as though they'd heard it many times before.

"So you're telling me I wasn't born?! I just appeared out of nowhere?!" Hugo asked, very confused.

"No, you idiot!" Dawn corrected him. "Of course you were born! You were abandoned!"

"Oh… I wonder why I was abandoned?"

"Probably because someone couldn't bare to be around you farting all the time!" Dawn joked.

"Wait a minute!" Brock exclaimed. "Didn't you say there were babies? As in, the plural of baby?"

"I did indeed." Said Margaret. There were two babies there. Both pretty much identical. Twins!"

Hugo, Ash, Brock, Dawn and Team Rocket were all stunned by this.

"So there's two tall twerps?" Asked James. "How would we know which one is this?"

"So what happened to the other baby?" Ash asked.

"Nothing. I took both of those babies as my own. It took a while, but I decided on names for them. Hugo… that's you. And your brother Hubert."

The village people seemed to be enjoying watching Hugo's reactions to every new bit of info. A couple of them were laughing and even taking photos of him.

"I have a brother… I have a brother! Where is he? Is he here?"

Margaret simply frowned and shook her head. "Mark, why don't you tell him YOUR part of the story?"

* * *

(9 years ago, Village of Giants)

"Come on, Hugo! I can't believe today's the day! For real! Uncle Eric's gonna help us get our very first Pokémon." Hubert was so excited.

In Sinnoh, trainers can't go on a Pokémon journey until they were seventeen, but Margaret and her brother Eric had been raising these two kids, and perhaps they were a bit too lenient… not many people were given a Pokémon when they were as young as ten. They went with Eric out into the wild hills just outside of their village. It was the middle of summer, so it wasn't snowing and there were more non-ice type Pokémon about than usual.

"Shh! If you two kids are quiet, we might be able to find ourselves some rare Po- oh! What's this?

A female Luxio was lying on the ground looking unwell. It groaned in pain. Next to it were two eggs. "This looks serious boys. We need to get Luxio to the Pokémon Centre to get treatment. You two, grab its eggs and carry them. When it gets better, it will want its eggs with it or it will be very angry."

Eric carried Luxio while Hugo and Hubert carried the eggs. They dashed back as quickly as they could but something happened on the way back – the eggs began to glow!

* * *

(Present day, Village of Giants)

"Sadly, the Luxio was so unwell it actually passed away the next day… you two took care of those Shinx ever since!" Mark explained. "You'd always tell me stories of the crazy things you and Shinx got up to!"

Hugo smiled on the outside at the heart-warming story. He stared at Shinx's pokéball with pride. On the inside, though, he felt sad to hear about Shinx's mother.

* * *

(2 years ago, Snowpoint City)

"Good luck boys!" "Break a leg!" "Go for it!"

Hugo and Hubert were finally ready. Together, with their two Shinx, they'd go on an adventure through Sinnoh and conquer all. "Let's vow never to evolve our Shinx, okay Hugo? It can be our special thing – I have too many great memories with Shinx. It would never be the same if it were to evolve." Hugo was very happy to hear his Hubert say this. "I agree one hundred percent. Let's do this brother!"

* * *

(2 years ago, Village of Giants)

(The two brothers would spend the next month catching Pokémon and learning new things. They never ventured too far from Snowpoint and came back home on the weekends. The plan was to wait until they'd built up a strong team of Pokémon, then they'd travel around Sinnoh challenging all of the gyms.)

"Wow! That's AMAZING!" Mark exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know, right? I'm the luckiest guy alive! I've got great friends like you Mark, I've got a super strong brother who's always teaching me new battle techniques and strategies, and then I go and stumble across a super rare fossil."

"I'm soooo jealous! Your very own Kabuto! And you've barely started your journey!"

"There's just one problem..." Hugo said, suddenly sounding more serious. "When I found this, Hubert found… something else..." Mark gave a confused look. "What do you mean? He found ANOTHER fossil?!"

Hugo stared at the snow-covered ground for a moment. "No… well, at least I don't think so. It was this weird looking rock..."

Mark giggled. "What, you mean it was shaped like a giraffe?"

Hugo didn't even smile at this, in fact his stare became more distant. "No, it was unlike anything I've seen before. It seemed like, even when he held it in the sun, we couldn't really see it. Like it was covered in darkness or something."

Mark suddenly felt tense. "So… what did he do with it?! I hope he put it back!"

Hugo continued to avoid eye contact. "I wish he did! But the next part was REALLY weird. One of his pokéballs… just kind of… opened on its own. It went inside! It was really strange. Ever since then, Hubert's been acting really weird."

Suddenly, a horrible chill shot down Mark's spine. "OH NO!" He cried. "I've read about this! This is bad! Really bad! Really REALLY bad!"

Hugo finally gave Mark the eye contact he'd been avoiding. "What is it Mark? What's happened?"

Mark gave Hugo a look that he'd never seen before. This was a very serious look. A look that sent the message 'We're all doomed to suffer an agonising death.' "Come with me." Mark said. "There's something I need to show you."

* * *

(Present day, Village of Giants)

"I know what happened to your brother. What he found was no rock. It was actually a Pokémon!" Mark exclaimed.

"A rock and dark type?" One of the villagers asked.

"No! Clearly it would be rock and ghost!" Another villager shouted out.

"What are you on about?! It would be dark and ghost surely!" A third villager yelled.

"Not quite guys." Mark corrected them. This is none other than a pokémon spoken of only in legend. It's a dark and dragon type and it's known to the few who believe in it as Oblistrum."

Gasps came from the mouths of many of the villagers. "It can't be!" Yelled a villager. "It was defeated many years ago!"

"There's a story of how it was defeated!" Another villager chimed in. "Way back in the prehistoric ages, all the Pokémon banded together to defeat it. In the end of an epic battle a Kabutops ended up sacrificing itself to defeat it.

"Kabutops?!" Ash exclaimed.

Ash, Dawn and Brock stared directly at Hugo, making him feel uncomfortable. "Um… you mean this one?" Hugo asked. He launched Kabutops's pokéball, summoning the rock and water type.

More gasps could be heard around the village.

"I doubt it's the same one!" A villager shouted out. "In the legend, this particular Kabutops suffers a serious leg injury during the battle-" Their accusation is cut off when everybody notices something – on the back of its left leg Kabutops has a nasty, old looking scar.

"Impossible!" Another villager shouted out. "Those two young twins discovered the location of Oblistrum's last stand! Where was it?"

Hugo shrugged. "You're not quite grasping the whole memory loss thing, are you?"

"Hugo!" Mark exclaimed. "That must be why you've lost your memory. You know, the legend says that Oblistrum feeds on memories. It needs them to survive just like you or I need food and water."

"Good job it doesn't have Hugo's appetite or it everyone's memories would be gone by now." Dawn remarked.

"So you're saying Oblistrum took my memory?" Hugo asked.

"That'd be my best guess." Mark answered.

"Hey!" A villager shouted out. "How come you never told any of us lot this story until now?!"

Mark frowned. "Would you really have believed me?" Nobody answered.

"Well that settles it!" Ash raised a fist in the air. "We find Hubert, ask him about Oblistrum and get to the bottom of this once and for all!"

"But how?" Brock asked. "We have no idea where Hubert is! Is he even in Sinnoh?"

"There may be a way." Mark adjusted his spectacles. "Almost all legendary Pokémon have some sort of counterpart. Latias and Latios. Darkrai and Cresselia. Groudon and Kyogre. Lugia and Ho-oh. Palkia and Dialga. Reshiram and Zekrom..."

Everyone stared at Mark for a moment. "What in the world is a restram or a zenrom?" Some villager asked. "They sound stupid. I bet they're from some awful region that nobody likes-"

"Okay, forget the last two, but my point remains!" Mark insisted.

"He's right." Brock agreed. "We just need to do some research!"

Mark smiled. "I'm one step ahead of you. Ta-da!" He produced a book from his bag and opened it on a page that had an image of a white dragon. Hugo, Dawn, Ash and Brock read the information.

"Wow!" Brock exclaimed. "You're smart!" "So there is another after all! The dragon type known as Recormem!"

"So if this is Oblistrum's nemesis as the book says, there's a good chance it doesn't like people losing their memories, right? So it should be on our side?"

"Correct!" Mark exclaimed. And if you turn to page forty-two, it even explains where you might be able to find-"

"Yoink!" A robotic claw swooped in and snatched the book from Mark's clutches. Everyone turned around to see a giant Meowth-bot glaring down at them. It held the book in its left claw & with its right claw it swooped down & grabbed Ash's Pikachu.

"Heeheeheeheeheeheehee!" Three bad guys sniggered.

"With this book, we can find our very own legendary Pokémon!" Jessie boasted from within Meowth-bot's head.

"And wiv 'dis Pikachu we got da mousepower to defeat it and capture it for ourselves!" Meowth bragged.

"WHO ARE YOU CROOKS?!" Several of the villagers shouted angrily.

"Look! Is that a village of lanky people I spy?"

"This place is just not pleasing to the eye."

"Shall we flee?"

"I agree."

"Say good-bye!"

"Stealing from those who helped us out."

"That's what Team Rocket's all about."

"If we had it any other way it would just feel wrong."

"Recormem will be ours before too long!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth, that's a name!"

"Stealing two for the price of none!"

"We're Team Rocket…"

"...And this has been fun!"

"Woooobbuffet!"

As soon as the motto concluded, the Meowth-bot began to fly away with the power of a jetpack. Unfortunately for the trio, there wasn't anywhere near enough fuel, and the jetpack spluttered for a few seconds, before turning off completely. The Meowth-bot fell back to the ground. The impact of hitting the ground caused the bot to malfunction. Its claws opened, dropping Pikachu and the book.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered as Pikachu fell. "CHUUUU!" Pikachu cried as it sent a powerful bolt at the robot, causing it to explode and sending the trio launching through the air.

"Are we here purely for comic relief at this point?" James sighed. "We haven't even had the chance to send out our Pokémon in the last few chapters..."

Jessie smiled. "Don't worry. We still have a part to play in this story." Her smile disappeared. "I think..."

"We're blasting off again!" The trio yelled as they disappeared into the distance with a twinkle in the sky.

"Now where were we..." Mark picked the fallen book up out of the snow and continued as if nothing had happened. "I've got it! I know where we can find Recormem!"

"WHERE?!" "TELL US MARK!" "WE'RE ALL DYING TO KNOW!" The village crowd was getting incredibly noisy.

Hugo launched a pokéball at the ground, summoning his Shinx. He only had to smile at it for the electric type to know what to do next. A powerful flamethrower was shot directly into the air. That silenced the crowd.

"ENOUGH!" Mark yelled, getting everyone's attention. "The Pokémon is sleeping in Memory cave. I've got the co-ordinates here. Tried to go there myself before but there's something there. A fortress. It looks scary and dangerous."

"Well what are we waiting for?! Let's go check it out!" Yelled Margaret. "YEEEEEEAH!" The crowd cheered.

Shinx launched a second flamethrower into the air.

"No chance." Hugo clenched his fists. "We can't just send an entire village somewhere like that. It's too dangerous."

"He's right!" One villager cried. "It's the boy's problem so let him deal with it!" "He could use some company, surely?!" Another villager called out.

A chubby gentleman, fairly short by village standards, strolled over. He was pale white, had a moustache and wore a black top hat. He also wore a white suit with white trousers.

"Hello, Hugo. I am in charge here at this village. I'm what you might call a mayor in most places." "Uh… hi there." Hugo replied, confused.

"It seems that we need to make a decision. Clearly, exploring such an unknown location brings a high element of risk. So here's what we'll do: you choose three companions to come with you, forming a small party to explore this cave that apparently exists. So… who will you choose?"

"PICK ME!" "I'M THE STRONGEST!" "I'M THE FASTEST!" "I'LL SCARE OFF ANY MONSTERS WITH MY SMELLY FARTS!" Many villagers shouted over each other.

Hugo smiled. "Well that's easy. It'll have to be Ash, Brock and Dawn."

"WHAT?!" "FAVOURITISM!" "THIS WHOLE THING WAS A FIX!" The villagers continued to shout over each other.

"Then it's decided. Hugo and his friends will explore this so-called memory cave and attempt to locate the legendary Pokémon Recormem. Good luck to these four brave travellers." The village leader announced. "Everybody else, back to work as usual."

* * *

Brock had a confused expression, attempting to read a map as he makes his way up another snowy hill. Dawn and Ash are beside him, looking exhausted from climbing many hills. Hugo, however, is already at the top, waiting impatiently.

"Guys! I think this could be it!" He yelled down to them excitedly.

"That's what you said about the last three mountains we climbed!" Dawn groaned.

"Pfft. Mountains?! They are mere bumps in the road!" Hugo teased.

"That's it! Next hill you're carrying me up!" Dawn sat down to rest her weary legs as she, Ash and Brock reached the top.

"WOOOW!" Ash and Brock remarked simultaneously. "Look at that!" Ash exclaimed. "This must be it!" Brock exclaimed.

Dawn leapt back onto her feet. "Where? Where? Where? Lemme see! WOW!" Before them, through the heavy snowfall they could see the side of a mountain. Built into this mountainside was an ancient looking castle. It wasn't massive, but it appeared to have a big main room plus a tower to the right of it. The double door entrance was a greed wooden door that looked as though it had seen better days.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ash and Pikachu ran excitedly towards the building with the rest of the gang close behind and just as eager.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Suddenly, a loud, bellowing, evil sounding laugh could be heard echoing throughout the mountainous area.

"FINALLY! AFTER ALL THIS TIME! I FINALLY FOUND YOU."

What's going on?!" Asked Ash.

"This can't be good!" Brock stated.

"I know that voice!" Exclaimed Hugo.

"LOOK!" Dawn screamed as she pointed towards the castle. It was still a few hundred feet away, but there was now somebody stood in front of the double doors. He looked exactly like Hugo, except he wore a black hoodie with black shorts and black shoes. Something about his eyes was… wrong. No matter how much Hugo looked at them, he couldn't make out what colour they were.

"YOU RAN AWAY LIKE A COWARD! NOW AFTER SO LONG YOU COME CRAWLING BACK! BIG MISTAKE… BROTHER!"

"Hubert!" Hugo exclaimed. "Why does your voice sound so familiar yet so deep? It's like it's not even a person speaking."

"SILENCE!" YOU WILL ALL BE SLAVES TO THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS." YOU ALL POSSESS PLENTY OF..." Hubert licked his lips thoroughly. "JUICY MEMORIES."

"Make sure you catch the whole thing on film Meowth!" Snapped Jessie, accidentally blowing Team Rocket's cover. "And move a little over to the left." Team rocket were a little closer to the castle than Hugo and the game.

"Sure ting Jes-WOAH!" As Meowth sidestepped something was activated. Next thing he knew, Meowth was trapped inside a cage!"

"Waah! Get me outta dis ting ya mugs!"

"Don't worry Meowth! We'll help you out old chum!" Jessie and James dashed towards Meowth, but within seconds they too found themselves trapped within cages.

"Uh-oh. This can't be good. There's a bunch of traps scattered around here. We need to watch our step." Warned Brock.

"Uh, guys… I know something else we need to watch." Ash said nervously.

"What is it, Ash?" Asked Dawn.

"Incoming!" Ash cried out as he pointed at the sky. A Fearow swooped in. This Fearow appeared to have very dark eyes, much like Hubert's. Ash dove out of the way as the flying type swooped in. Fearow grabbed the back of Brock's shirt with its beak and flew over to the castle, entering a window in the tower. "Nooooooooo!" Was all Brock managed to say.

"LOOK OUT!" Hugo warned as another dark-eyed Pokémon approached. This time it was an Electabuzz. It launched a thunder punch attack, which Pikachu intercepted with its body, causing minimal damage. "IRON TAIL!" Ash had to shout to be heard over the ferocious snow storm. Pikachu used its powerful attack, impressively knocking out Electabuzz with a single hit.

"Nice one man." Hugo walked over to Ash, giving him a fist bump.

"Um… guys?!" Hugo and Ash turned around to see a frightened looking Dawn, who was now being held in the arms of a dark-eyed Ursaring. "WAAAAAAAAH!" Dawn gave out a deafening scream, but it didn't stop Ursaring from dashing over to the big green doors at the castle entracnce. "Dawn!" Ash called out. "We have to help her!" He began sprinting off towards the castle entrance.

"Ash, wait! You're forgetting about the-" Hugo attempted to warn his best friend but it was too late. Ash and Pikachu were now trapped within the same style cage as Team Rocket. Or on second thoughts, maybe not, because their cages now appeared to be empty.

"Ash! Oh no! I'll get you out of there-" As Hugo ran over to the outside of the cage, the floor began to move apart beneath Ash's feet, as though it was mechanical. All Hugo could see below was a dark hole. "WAAAAAAAH!" Ash wailed, hugging Pikachu as they fell below.

"WHAT'S WRONG BROTHER? FEELING RATHER LONELY ARE WE? WELL I'LL JUST HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH COMPANY, WON'T I?"

Just then, the castle doors swung open and out marched an army of Pokémon. There were three Abomasnow and around ten Snover charging towards Hugo. Suddenly, an idea sprang into his head.

"Shinx, burn them." He launched his partner's pokéball, who immediately attacked. "SHIIIIINX!" A powerful flame came out of its mouth. The move lasted almost ten seconds. When it was over, all the Abomasnow and Snover had fainted. In addition, most of the snow on the ground had melted, revealing plenty of large white buttons scattered around the ground. Hugo assumed that stepping on one would activate a cage.

Realising what he'd just done, Hugo smiled and bolted towards the castle, careful to avoid all the buttons.

"STOP HIM! ATTACK!"

Right on cue, an army of flying types, at least ten of them, came swooping down. There were Skarmory, Fearow and some Pidgeotto's too.

"Wrong choice of typing." Hugo mocked his 'brother'. Within a minute, every single one of those birds was lying on the floor with swirly eyes, the occasional jolt of electricity rushing through their bodies.

By this point, Hugo & Shinx had made their way to within fifty feet of the castle.

"Here's a tip for next time bro. Don't use flying types in the hail."

Hubert gritted his teeth in anger. "YOUR EFFORTS ARE IN VAIN. THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO OVERCOME THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM."

"I'll just have to make one then, won't I?" Hugo returned Shinx to its pokéball. "Hippowdon let's do this!" He summoned his heavy ground-type partner.

"YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ENTER-"

"Dig!"

Hippowdon burrowed through the soft ground below with ease and at a rapid pace, using its powerful claws.

"Was nice catching up bro, but I must be going now!" Hugo dove down the hole, staying close to his partner.

"CURSES! AN UNDERGROUND ASSAULT WAS NOT CONSIDERED!" Hubert's strange voice bellowed from above ground as Hugo made his way through Hippowdon's tunnel. The Pokémon was burrowing so fast that he was struggling to keep up.

Eventually, their tunnel began ascending, then Hippowdon leaped out of the hole it had made. Hugo poked his head out of the tunnel and looked around. He could see a big pile of dirt beside him, obviously from their tunnel. Looking around, he was in a huge room. There were large black walls all around them. As Hugo climbed out he noticed the ground below wasn't made of wood or stone or any sort of flooring. It was simply dirt. As Hippowdon kicked their dirt pile back into the hole, Hugo realised where he was. The room he was in was a battlefield inside the castle! There was a big TV screen on the wall to the left of him, and below that there were two large cages. To his surprise, the first cage contained his friends Ash, Brock and Dawn along with Pikachu. The second cage held Jessie, James and Meowth.

"It's about time, twerp. These two idiots wouldn't be my first choice to be trapped in a cage with." Said Jessie.

"Oh, I see how it is." Replied James. "You think you're too good for us?"

"Of course I am. That goes without saying."

"I'm ten times brighter dan da both of yas." Meowth boasted. "If you'd listened to me we wouldn't even be in dis mess in da first place!"

"Oh yeah?!" Shouted Jessie and James angrily.

"Oh yeah!" Meowth replied arrongantly.

A cloud of dust formed around the Rocket trio as they began fighting each other. Hugo turned his attention to the other cage.

"I'll get you out guys. Hippowdon return. Shinx, let's do this! Use flame-

"STOP!"

"Huh?"

"Hugo, you idiot!" Snapped Dawn. "Do you want to melt us all?"

Hugo scratched his head dozily. "Oh yeah. Never thought about that."

"I already tried all my Pokémon and none of them could damage the metal bars. They're built strong." Explained Ash.

"Hugo." Brock grabbed his attention. "Don't worry about us. Find a way to bring your brother to his senses. He's obviously not acting like himself."

"Ya don't say Brock?! Here I was thinking maybe he just had something in his teeth that was making him grumpy!"

"Where are we anyway?" Asked Ash.

"Some sort of battlefield." Hugo replied. "Maybe he trains his Pokémon here. Dunno what's with the big TV though…"

Ash, Brock and Dawn had to really crank their necks up to see the TV from where they were.

"Hmm… do you think he planned on holding a tournament here or something?" Asked Dawn.

Just then, the big double metal doors at the opposite end of the room swung open.

"IT IS TIME." Boomed Hubert. "TIME TO… ugh."

"Hubert, can you hear me bro? Snap out of it mate!" Hugo shouted towards his brother as he appeared to be having a mental struggle.

"Won't…DESTROY…must…ATTACK…can't...GAAAAAAH!"

For a moment, Hubert's eyes became visible. They were dark blue, just like Hugo's. He had a look of surprise on his face. A dark auran was swirling around him, looking as though it was trying to get back inside him.

"Hugo! Remember our... promise?" Hubert sounded normal now, but he spoke as though he was in great pain.

"Don't remember much about anything I'm afraid." Hugo frowned.

"Shinx! We promised… never to… GAAAAAAAH!" Hubert absorbed the aura, and his eyes became dark again.

"Hubert's in there somewhere." Hugo felt more confident. "I just need to get him out of whatever it is he's stuck in."

"IT IS TIME FOR OUR BATTLE. THIS BATTLEFIELD WILL BE THE LOCATION WHERE YOU MEET YOUR DOOM."

"A battle? As in, a Pokémon battle?" Ash asked from within his cage.

"MY POKÉMON ARE UNBEATABLE. WHEN I WIN, YOU DIE."

By this point, he even had Team Rocket's attention.

"Woah!" Exclaimed James. "Pretty sure K+ Fanfictions aren't allowed to include death!"

"You can do it Hugo!" Exclaimed Brock.

"You better win, or else!" shouted Dawn.

"Give it all you've got!" Were Ash's words of encouragement.

Hugo smiled and dashed over to the opposite end of the room. Glancing up at the TV screen, he could see it was now turned on. All it displayed, however, was the number 6, then a vertical line halfway across the screen, then another number six.

"Hugo! Brock shouted over. "I think those numbers represent the number of Pokémon you have remaining!"

"Got it!" Hugo gave a thumbs up. "But I only have five..." He said quielty so Hubert couldn't hear. 'Maybe this will be tough…' He thought to himself.

The evil looking Hubert smiled. "TIME FOR YOUR DOOM." He launched the first of his six pokéballs.

* * *

 **Oh dear. I was confident this chapter wouldn't take 8 weeks like the previous one, yet it ended up taking 11. However, I am confident that the rest of the story will not take long to complete. Stay tuned, as the next chapter is just around the corner!  
**


	20. Battle Of The Twins

**I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

Hubert was not messing around. The first Pokémon he sent out was-

"Magmortar!" The opposing Pokémon cried out.

"Huh. Should be easy enough. Hippowdon! Let's do this!" Hugo summoned his ground type once again, this time for the purpose of battle.

"SMOKESCREEN." Hubert ordered. Magmortar shot out a cloud of smoke. The smoke sorrounded Hugo and Hippowdon. As Ash and the other listened in, they could hear coughing and spluttering from Hugo.

"FLAME BURST." Magmortar summoned large bursts of flame where it thought Hippowdon was standing.

The smoke cleared, and Hippowdon was nowhere to be seen.

"That brainwash been clouding your judgment, bro?" Hugo mocked, and his Ground type partner didn't even need an order to know that now was the perfect time to surface with its dig attack. Magmortar was taken completely by surprise. A super-effective, critical hit. The fire type was sent sprawling through the air until landing on the hard dirt ground with swirly eyes.

"Wow." Commented Brock. "Hubert didn't make the best choices there, did he? Looks like a total mismatch in terms of trainer ability!"

"I wouldn't be so sure..." said Ash, in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Maybe he wants Hugo to be overconfident? That's never good..."

"Says you!" Dawn stuck out her tongue. "The king of arrogance over here!"

Meanwhile, the big screen above their heads changed its display. There was now a 6 on Hugo's side and a 5 on Hubert's.

"LUCKY BREAK. NOW IT IS TIME TO LOSE." Hubert sent out his next Pokémon; Tangrowth.

"Easy. Shinx, let's do this!"

"POISON POWDER." Tangrowth throws out a purple powder.

"Dodge and use flamethrower!" Shinx acrobatically leaps out of the way, sending a powerful burst of flames towards Tamgrowth.

"The tall twerp isn't too bad is he?" Asked Jessie.

"Glad I've never had to battle him..." Replied James.

"What are ya sayin' ya bum?! Ya got a battlin' lesson from 'im back in dat tournament!" Meowth reminded him.

"Bah. That chapter was out like four months ago. Nobody remembers that now..." Replied James.

"REPEL IT."

To everybody's surprise, Tangrowth reached into the oncoming flames and used its long, powerful arms to split them up so they missed at either side of its body. Its arms suffered a bit, but its body was left unharmed.

"Very impressive manoeuvre!" Brock praised Tangrowth.

"Perfect! Now use vine whip!" Hugo seemed to have somehow expected this. Shinx quickly shot out two long vines and successfully wrapped them around Tangrowth's right arm. It used the vines to pull itself towards Tangrowth rapidly.

"BIND." Tangrowth swung around and grabbed Shinx with its left arm. It squashed Shinx between its arm and its body.

"Nice!" Praised Ash.

"Hey! Which side are you guys on?" Dawn asked them.

"Big mistake pal. Thunder!"

With Tangrowth literally surrounding Shinx, a powerful bolt of lightning shot down on Tangrowth. The electricity shot through its body, causing it to release Shinx from its grip. The Pokémon maintained a surprised expression as it was paralysed.

"No avoiding it now. Flamethrower!" Of course, Tangrowth could not survive the powerful attack. And it was soon on the floor, fainted.

"Woo! Go Hugo!" Cheered Dawn.

"That's it! You can do it!" Cheered Ash!

"Two down, four to go!" Cheered Brock.

"Bro, I'm doing this for you..." Hugo muttered under his breath.

* * *

(Two years ago, Village of Giants, before the discovery of Oblistrum)

"Shinx, nooo!" Hugo called out. It was too late. He'd been easily defeated…again!

"Yeah, we won! Awesome job Shinx!" Hubert jumped up, punching the air in triumph.

"That's the fourth time in a row!" Hugo sighed. "You're too good for me."

Just then, Hubert's Shinx began to glow in a bright light. Hubert noticed this, and quickly returned his partner to its pokéball.

"I don't want to evolve Shinx." Hubert frowned. "That way, I can always look at my first partner and be reminded of all the great times I had with you and our Shinx, Hugo."

Hugo smiled. "Wow. That's a big decision to make… are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" Hubert smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Sorry to interrupt you two." A voice called over. It was Nurse Joy. "But I think what I just witnessed was very sweet. Here, I have something for you both."

"What's this? A pair of rocks?" Hubert asked.

"Teehee. No, they're everstones." Nurse Joy answered in her usual sweet tone. "They'll prevent your Shinx from evolving."

"That's perfect!" Hubert exclaimed, excitedly. "Thank you so much, Nurse Joy!"

* * *

(Present day)

"HMPH. NEXT ONE UP."

The next pokéball Hubert threw out contained a surprise. A big blue bird. It had a head crest with three dark blue feathers. Large wings that appeared to be made of ice. Its stomach was white – the only non-blue aspect of this Pokémon.

"What is THAT?!" Exclaimed Hugo.

"Wow! Haven't see that in a while!" Exclaimed Ash.

"What the-" Dawn pulled out her pokédex.

"Articuno, the freeze Pokémon. If you come up against this powerful bird in battle, you are probably going to lose."

"Gee, thanks Dawn's pokédex. Really fills me with confidence!" Hugo grumbled.

"I DO NOT PLAY GAMES." Hubert snapped arrogantly. "USE ICE BEAM."

"Waaaaaah – dodge it!" Hugo asked Shinx. Shinx jumped out of the way, narrowly avioding the attack.

"AGAIN." Another beam of ice was shot at Shinx. Again, the attack was narrowly avoided.

"Hugo! That thing is a legendary Pokémon! Be careful!" Brock shouted over.

"Most of Shinx's moves are strong against it. Shouldn't be too bad, right?"

"WRONG, FOOLISH BROTHER. YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE WRATH OF ARTICUNO." NOW, DESTROY HIM WITH REPEATED ICE BEAMS!"

One after another, Articuno shot many ice beam attacks. Shinx dodged every one, but in doing so, it was only tiring itself out and getting no closer to pulling off an attack.

"Return!" Hugo returned Shinx to its pokéball. "This ain't working, is it?"

"Let's try something else! Hippowdon!"

"Hippowdon!" The ground type cried as it returned to the batlefield.

"THE OUTCOME WILL BE THE SAME. CONTINUE WITH ICE BEAM."

"Charge into it and use fire fang!"

In a display of courage, Hippowdon sprinted directly into the ice beam attack. Although it was slow, it managed to get up close to Articuno and bite its foot as it was hovering above.

"Cunooo!" The ice-bird cried.

With its powerful jaws, Hippowdon swung Articuno around and slammed it against the ground, causing damage. The bird then broke free of its grip and immediately retaliated, looking irritated.

"HURRICANE." The bird flapped its wings and a powerless Hippowdon was caught in the middle of a powerful hurricane attack. It was slammed against the wall and its eyes became swirly.

"Wow. Hippowdon was no match for Articuno." Said Brock, sounding a bit nervous.

"Are any of Hugo's team gonna be able to compete?" Asked Dawn.

"I'm sure they will." Ash grinned. "This is Hugo we're talking about."

"Rotom, let's do this!"

"MIND READER."

Articuno gave Rotom an intimidating glare.

"Discharge." Rotom let out a large amount of electricity all around it. This move hit Articuno, but despite it being super-effective the flying and ice type didn't seem too bothered by it.

"SHEER COLD."

There was a flash, and everything went very cold for a brief moment. Next thing Hugo knew, Rotom was in an ice cube in front of him, and inside it had swirly eyes.

"Return. I knew we shoulda got you to possess something before coming here."

"Oh dear. Looks like it's four on four now." Commented Brock.

"Hey, where'd Team Rocket go?" Asked Ash, clearly not too concerned about the battle.

Brock and Dawn briefly glanced over at the cage next to them, to see that it was now empty.

"Let's not worry about that for now, Ash." Brock told him.

Hugo began pacing left and right. "Okay, now I'm gonna use… WOAH!"

The attack Articuno had just used had caused the surface to become covered in ice which had caused Hugo to slip. As he did, one of his pokéballs came loose from his belt. It hit the hard icy surface and smashed – the pokéball completely broke! Drifloon was forced out of it.

"Oh no! I'm sorry Drifloon, buddy, I didn't mean to do that! I'll have to get you a new one later!"

Dawn facepalmed. "This is helpless! Even if Drifloon weren't useless, it's up against Articuno!"

"Even worse, it has a type disadvantage." Added Brock.

"EASY. ICE BEAM."

"Loooooooon!" Drifloon exclaimed. It excitedly waved around its 'arms'. While it was doing this, the pokémon appeared to split into about ten different Drifloon. Articuno's attack hit one of them, causing it to disappear.

"ICE BEAM. REPEAT."

Articuno used ice beam again. Once again it hit one of the Drifloons and caused it to disappear.

"It's using double team!" Ash pointed out. "That's awesome!"

"USE MIND READER." Articuno glared at Drifloon.

"NOW YOU CAN'T MISS. ICE BEAM."

"Loooooooon!" Drifloon looked excited again. More copies of Drifloon appeared and they all floated around the battlefield in different directions. Articuno's ice beam managed to hit one, but once again it was merely a copy.

"This is awesome buddy!" Hugo cheered for his ghost partner.

"Loooooooon!" Drifloon exclaimed one more time. Turns out, this would be the last time ever – the ghost type began to glow in a bright light.

"BLIM!" The newly evolved Drifblim cried confidently.

"Incredible!" Said Brock, impressed. "Drifloon evolved!"

"Not only that, look!" Dawn pointed towards the air. There were still about twenty Drifloon copies floating around the battlefield.

"DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IF YOU EVOLVE. USE ICE BEAM."

Yet another powerful ice beam was shot towards Drifblim. Just as it was about to hit, one of the Drifloon copies floated in front and took the full force of the hit, before disappearing.

"Nice! Now use shadow ball, Drifblim!"

"Blim!" Drifblim cried as it shot a dark ball at Articuno. The attack hit the legendary bird directly in the face.

"Cuuuuu!" The bird cried.

"BLOW AWAY THE COPIES. USE HURRICANE."

With more powerful flaps of its wings, Articuno created a very strong wind. All the Drifloon copies along with Drifblim itself were caught up in the wind. All of the copies disappeared instantly while Drifblim was pushed towards the back of the room.

"I got an idea… Psychic!" Hugo called. Drifblim appeared to focus for a moment until, suddenly, the winds switched direction, and Drifblim was launched towards Articuno at an incredible speed.

"Gyro ball!" Hugo ordered as Drifblim began to spin faster and faster. A blue circle appeared around it as it slammed into Articuno at full force – super effective! Without giving Articuno any time to react, Drifblim glowed white and a huge explosion occurred. Both Drifblim and Articuno fell to the ground, unable to continue.

"YEEEEEEEAH!" cheered Ash, jumping up and punching the air excitedly. "Drifblim did it!"

"It took itself out with explosion. A very brave move..." Commented Brock.

"I never expected that! Out of all of Hugo's Pokémon, it was that Drifloon that took out a legendary Pokémon!" Dawn was surprised.

"Awesome job buddy! Maybe next time we can win without you sacrificing yourself, though?"

"Uh-oh.." Said Brock.

"What's up?" Asked Dawn, looking concerned.

"Up on that screen it says that both Hugo and Hubert have three Pokémon remaining."

"Yeah, so?" Asked Dawn.

"But Hugo only has two! Shinx and Kabutops! And to make matters worse, we know that Hubert still has his Oblistrum! Who knows what that terrible Pokémon is capable of?"

Ash and Dawn looked nervous for a moment as they realised how little chance Hugo had of winning.

"No need to worry!" Dawn suddenly perked up. "I don't think anyone Hugo's ever faced has even tested his Shinx! He can pull through!"

"Dawn's right!" Ash added. "Giving up without even trying – that's not the way to go at all."

"We've got this, no sweat guys. Kabutops, let's do this!" Hugo's loyal Kabutops emerged from its pokéball looking eager for some action.

"HEHEHEHEHE. GO."

Hubert launched another pokéball and summoned his next Pokémon – Tyranitar!

Suddenly, a dark ray of energy shot out from one of Hubert's pokéballs and flew straight over to Hugo. Hugo immediately felt a powerful headache which caused him to fall to his knees.

Images began to flash up in Hugo's mind. Could these be memoires?

"My new partner, Larvitar!"

"Awesome job Larvitar!"

"Great work Pupitar!"

"I'm sure glad to have you around, Tyranitar!"

"This is it. We'll give it everything we've got, Tyranitar!"

All of these voices going through his head were too familiar. After a moment, Hugo realised something – this was his voice! This was his Tyranitar!

Back in reality, Hugo was still on his knees, feeling completely stunned. "Tyranitar..."

"What's happening?!" Asked Dawn, who was clearly feeling nervous this.

"Could it be-" Began Brock. "Oblistrum is teasing Hugo? Giving him tiny samples of his old memory. Little glimpses of the past."

"Hugo!" Ash called out. "Forget about it! Just try to win this battle!"

Hugo had never been someone short of confidence, but that wasn't the case here – how could he fight against his old partner?

"STONE EDGE."

Hugo was having so much trouble focusing that he couldn't even register what happened next. He knew what a stone edge attack looked like, but that didn't help. The next thing he knew Kabutops was getting back to its feet after receiving damage.

"C'mon, Hugo! Snap out of it!" Dawn shouted over.

"Um… use slash!" Hugo commanded with a sort of nervousness in his voice.

Hugo's emotions were reflected on his partner as Kabutops was low in confidence which resulted in a weak slash attack. Tyranitar didn't even bother to dodge the pathetic attack.

"Why does Hugo seem so reluctant to attack this Tyranitar?" Brock wondered, scratching his chin.

"YOUR SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT." Hubert spoke, as if answering Brock directly.

"THIS IS INDEED THE SAME TYRANITAR THAT USED TO BELONG TO YOU."

"What?!" Exclaimed Brock.

"What?!" Exclaimed Dawn.

"WHAT?!" Exclaimed Ash.

"Pika Pi?" Asked Pikachu.

"Gah! How did you-"

"FOOL. HOW IRONIC THAT YOU 'FORGET' OBLISTRUM'S POWER?"

"So he's saying that this is Hugo's Tyranitar, but it doesn't remember any previous trainers due to Oblistrum taking its memory, which is how Hubert captured it?" Ash concluded.

"Wow Ash. I didn't realise you were that smart..." Dawn was impressed.

"That's terrible!" Ash realised.

"Hugo! Just focus on the battle, no matter who the opponent!" Were Ash's words of wisdom.

Hugo continued to stare blankly as his Kabutops received another powerful blow from Tyranitar's stone edge.

"RAAAAAA!" Tyranitar roared.

All of a sudden, Ash's words seemed to hit Hugo. He gave himself a slap around the face.

"Come on, Hugo! Snap out of it!" He told himself.

"You may be a powerful Pokémon but you've got no bond with this hypnotised buffoon! Kabutops use surf!"

A powerful wave was summoned which Kabutops simply jumped on top of.

"USE HYPER BEAM TO KNOCK IT OFF." Hubert commanded.

Back in the cage at the side of the battlefield, Ash smirked.

"RAAAAAA!" Tyranitar shot out a powerful ray of light which cut a hole through the wave. Unfortunately for Tyranitar, though, it wasn't even close to hitting Kabutops, who was moving way too fast. The rock and dark type was completely defenseless against the powerful super-effective attack.

"It needs to recharge! Finish it with giga drain!"

Kabutops briefly glowed green before summoning energy beams that hit the immobile Tyranitar. "RAAAAAA!" It cried, before falling to the ground with swirly eyes.

"YEEEEEEAH!" Cheered Ash, punching the air excitedly within the cage.

"CLEARLY, IT WAS NOT RAISED WELL. NEXT UP."

"Luxray!" Hubert's fifth Pokémon cried.

"WHAT?!" cried Hugo. "How could this-"

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Screamed Hubert.

"H-h-hugo, I-I'm sorry. I-it controls me. I can't… I couldn't stop it… my Shinx..." For the second time, Hubert sounded somewhat normal when he spoke. Obviously, he was trying to resist Oblistrum's control.

"Oblistrum did it, didn't it?" Said Hugo.

"Huh? Did what?" Asked Dawn.

"It took away what forged our bond. It all makes sense now. The reason everything happened. The reason behind everything..."

* * *

(2 years ago, Snowpoint City)

"I don't believe this!" one man yelled in disbelief. He was a generic Ace trainer.

"Don't give up, man! We can still win!" Yelled the man stood next to him, also a generic Ace trainer.

The two men were engaged in a double battle in the middle of a park. Their opponents were two identical looking young men.

"Kabutops, use slash!" 17-year-old Hugo ordered.

"Magmar, fire spin!" 17-year-old Hubert commanded.

"Piloswine, dodge it!" Generic Ace trainer ordered. But it was too late. Piloswine was caught in the swirling flames and defeated.

"Monferno, counter attack with mach punch!" Other generic Ace trainer commanded. Just as Kabutops went in for the attack, Monferno landed a low punch on its opposing opponent. Kabutops was knocked onto the floor with swirly eyes.

"Aw, man!" Hugo stomped his feet in frustration.

"Flamethrower Magmar!" Hubert ordered.

"Ha! My Monferno is a fire type. Let it hit you, Monferno!" Monferno nodded and stood its ground. The Ace Trainer folded his arms and smiled, confident the attack wouldn't cause damage.

After the flamethrower attack was completed, the Ace trainer saw his Pokémon lying on the ground with swirly eyes.

"What?! It was that strong?!" Ace trainer fell to his knees and put his head in his hands in disbelief.

After the battle, the two brothers approached the Ace trainers.

"Cheers for the battle lads." Hugo smiled.

"Yeah, no problem, we learned a lot. You're both strong!" replied one of the trainers.

"How pathetic." Snorted Hubert. "You guys are awful. You'll never accomplish anything fighting like that."

"Huh?" Said Hubert.

"Wow, geez. It was only a battle. No need to gloat so much, jerk!" Snarled one of the trainers as they both began to leave hastily.

"Um… sorry about that guys! Hugo called over as they were leaving. "I don't know what's gotten into him!"

"Hmph!" Hubert grunted as he began to walk away.

"Bro!" Hugo jogged to catch up to his brother.

"You're an incredible trainer. You're much better than me, that's for sure. You always have been. But what's gotten into you lately? That's the third time this week you've done this."

Hubert turned to look at his brother. But Hugo saw something about him that he knew wasn't right. He saw an expression, a glare, that he hadn't seen before in his brother.

"Shut up! You're always holding me back, you know?"

Hubert looked angry, and he threw one of his pokéballs, summoning his first partner, Shinx.

"In fact, you know what, forget our childish agreement!"

"Wh-what are you doing?" Hugo was scared by this point.

Hubert stomped over to Shinx, grabbed its everstone that it held within its fur, and threw it. His throw was accurate, landing it in a bin twenty metres away.

Immediately after doing this, Shinx began to glow.

"Why do I want a weak little Shinx? This is something I should've done as soon as possible!"

Hugo wasn't one to cry. If he were, this scenario would've probably brought him to tears. He managed to remain calm though.

"Hubert, are you sure about this? There's no going back..."

"I told you, didn't I?" Hubert snorted. "I don't want you to battle alongside me any more until you're good enough to not hold me back!"

Hugo turned around and began walking away at a pace. He couldn't bare to witness this moment.

"Lux lux luxio!" He heard a Pokémon cry in the background.

* * *

(2 Years ago, Village of Giants)

"I know what I need to do, Shinx, buddy." Hugo was in a quiet corner. He and Hubert had returned to their village for what was supposed to be a two week visit. However, Hubert hadn't really been home at all throughout these two weeks, and Hugo was about to cut his visit short too…

"I'm very sorry about this, buddy, but you might not get to battle now for a long time..."

"Shinx Shinx!" Shinx explained.

"I'm so glad you feel that way, buddy! Now let's do this!"

With that, Hugo set off on a journey that was going to change his life forever.

* * *

(Present day)

"THIS IS THE SAME KABUTOPS THAT DEFEATED THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM? REVENGE WILL BE SWEET."

Luxray released multiple sparks of blue energy all around its body. Kabutops made an effort to fight back by leaping towards it, but it was easily hit by Luxray, and the shellfish Pokémon had no chance of withstanding the super-effective move. Kabutops fainted.

"MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Hubert Bellowed. "THE ONE THAT SLAYED THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE ONLY YOUR AVERAGE POKÉMON THAT GOT LUCKY. THE MIGHTY OBLISTRUM CAN NOW SPREAD ITS WINGS WITH NOTHING TO FEAR."

Luxray was returned to its pokéball, and Hubert look very confident while he launched his last pokéball.

From his pokéball emerged a Pokémon like no other. It was a black creature – it appeared to be shrouded in darkness to the extent that it was difficult to see anything when gazing upon it. It appeared to have short, stubby legs. It seemed doubtful that this Pokémon used its legs often, as it was hovering in the air. Rather than feet, it appeared to instead have claws. Its head was the first thing that caught anyone's attention though, as the only part of it that possessed any colour whatsoever were its bright white eyes. The Pokémon appeared to be blinking very frequently as its eyes seemed to constantly disappear and reappear. It was very difficult to see the rest of its face but it had large horns above its head. These were black, of course, just like the rest of its body. Its wings were huge. At least twice the size of its body. Speaking of the Pokémon's body, it was like staring into a black hole. If you stared towards the middle of Oblistrum, it was impossible to see anything. And doing so momentarily made Hugo forget what he was doing here, and made him question whether it was Thursday or Friday today. The creature was huge. Roughly three and a half metres tall. Even the very tall Hugo & Hubert seemed like Dwarves in comparison.

"Is it Sunday today?" Ash asked.

"Naw, Tuesday." Brock replied.

"No need to worry, you two. I can reassure you that it is in-fact Monday.

Ash pulled out his pokédex. "Aw man. We were all wrong. It's Wednesday..."

"This Pokémon possesses incredible power." Brock spoke in a serious tone. "And all Hugo has left to fight it along with Luxray is his little Shinx..."

* * *

 **Ooh, a cliffhanger. Are you surprised by this? Really? I'm more surprised by us going a full chapter without Team Rocket reciting their motto… I though this was Diamond & Pearl not X & Y. **

**How did the trio escape their cage anyway? And will they be back? Surely Ash, Brock or Dawn might need the toilet by now? They've been in that cage for a while now! And how did Hubert train his Magmortar so badly?**

 **Oh wait, nobody cares about that? You want to know who will win? How will Hugo fare against this legendary Pokémon? Will the missing pieces of the jigsaw of Hugo's memory finally be put together? What will become of Hubert and Oblistrum?**

 **Find out next time! Thanks for reading.**

 **(Note: I'm aware mind reader is supposed to guarantee a hit, but that would be a ridiculously broken strategy in the anime world where PP doesn't exist and battles aren't usually decided by one move. Therefore, since it hasn't been used in the actual anime anyway, I made up my own rules so that it merely increases accuracy.)**


	21. The Final Battle

**I don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

"THERE IS NO POINT IN MESSING AROUND. LET US HURRY UP AND END THIS."

Hubert looked and sounded angry and impatient. His powerful Pokémon Oblistrum was ready for action.

In response, Hugo grabbed Shinx's pokéball. "Come on buddy. It's just be and you. We can..."

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" A deafeningly loud screech echoed around the hall.

"Woah- what's going on?!" Brock asked, taken completely by surprise.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

"Whatever it is, it sounds like it's getting closer." said Dawn.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

"Is that – a Pokémon?" questioned Ash.

"IT CANNOT BE. IMPOSSIBLE." Hubert sounded very agitated.

With that, the brick wall behind Hugo was effortlessly smashed into many pieces.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" The incoming Pokémon gave out one last cry.

"Could that be what I think it is?" Brock asked as he gazed in awe at the magnificent creature he was beholding.

This was none other than the legendary Pokémon Recormem! The Pokémon that is said to possess the ability to make someone remember anything they've done in their life.

"Wooooooow" Said Dawn and Ash together.

The first thing that caught the eye about Recormem was its wings. Just as big as Oblistrum's, but these certainly weren't black. They were overflowing with colour. Every second its wings were giving off a slight glow, changing colour constantly. First they were one third orange, one third blue, one third green, then they were 4 colours: green, red, purple and turquoise. Next they were a combination of pink and yellow. And it went on and on…

The rest of this creature was the exact opposite. Its entire body besides its wings and eyes were pure white. It had a long pointy nose that curved slightly upwards. Its eyes, just like its wings, changed colour with every passing second. It possessed small horns on the top of its head and had a small chin connected to a short neck which lead to the rest of its body. While gazing upon Recormem, Hugo found it almost impossible to cast his glance away from its eyes or wings. He managed to briefly look downwards before his eyes were drawn back to the colour of its wings. In that brief moment, he saw a white scaly body that ran smoothly down to the Pokémon's short, stubby legs. It possessed long arms that were proportionally about 50% longer proportionally than your average Human's. could easily At just over three metres, this Pokémon was a little shorter than Oblistrum, but this fact didn't seem to bother Recormem as it cast its fierce gaze upon its sworn enemy.

"On no!" Ash exclaimed all of a sudden. "It's Mum's birthday tomorrow and I forgot to send her a present!"

"Uh oh!" Brock announced. "Seven years ago I was defeated by a strong challenger at my gym and promised I'd watch him on TV in the Pokémon Leagues. But I never did!"

"Whoopsie!" Dawn realised. "I told my friend I'd send her a postcard from Snowpoint city – but I never did!"

"Woah, that's incredible!" Hugo was amazed. Merely being in their presence was enough for Recormem to help people remember things at the back of their minds. Hugo didn't seem to

remember anything at all though.

"GYAAAAAH!" Hubert held his head in his hands and gritted his teeth in pain. "GET AWAY. FAR AWAY. BEGONE!"

Recormem now had its back to Hugo, its wings just as incredible to look at from behind. A strong sensation of excitement shot up Hugo's spine as he felt incredibly motivated. Recormem didn't do or say anything – as far as Hugo knew, no Pokémon could speak besides Meowth and some Slowking Ash told a story about once. Yet, somehow, it was as though Recormem was speaking to him. It wanted him to help it. It needed guidance. The guidance of a trainer who could help it meet its potential in battling.

"GAAH!" Hugo cried out all of a sudden. He felt an intense rush of pain through his head. What could have caused that?

On the other side of the battlefield, Hubert reasserted himself. "OH POWERFUL ONE! USE FORGOTTEN SWORD!" From the dark depths of its body Oblistrum produced a weapon made of darkness.

"Recormem!" Hugo shouted. "Use recollection!" Even though Hugo was not its trainer, he somehow knew all he needed to about his new partner. He knew it was a pure dragon type. He also knew its moveset, and he knew that 'recollection' was a move only Recormem could learn.

The majestic dragon swooped up to the high ceiling of the hallway and produced a ball of energy. Within the energy ball, incredible things could be seen. Ash saw an image of his Pikachu heroically defending him from a flock of Spearow. Brock saw himself being rejected by Nurse Joy after giving her one of his 'romantic speeches'. Dawn saw herself celebrating her first ever contest win. Hugo saw something strange. He saw himself and Hubert when they were younger. They were with their friend Mark as well as a young girl he couldn't recognise. Within the image, Mark and Hubert were laughing about something while Hugo appeared to be showing something to the girl. She looked very skinny, had long brown hair, wore a simple light blue shirt and short red skirt… darn. The image was gone.

Oblistrum shot upwards, towards Recormem. It was just about to swing its weapon when energy was shot down upon it. Recormem was engulfed in a bubble of energy as unfamiliar images were shot out.

Floating away, Hugo saw an energy bubble containing an image of two unfamiliar young girls playing together. Then he saw another of an unfamiliar man training his Rhyhorn. Then an unfamiliar elderly woman enjoying a laugh with her loyal Ampharos. These must be other people's memories.

"Incredible!" Brock was amazed. "It seems to be draining the stolen memories from it."

"GYAAAAAAH!" For the second time, Hubert held his head in his hands and gritted his teeth in agony.

"GAAH!" Hugo also felt another pain shoot through his head.

"Why does that keep happening?" Hugo muttered to himself. But he decided to try to ignore it.

"OH POWERFUL ONE. BREAK YOURSELF FREE AND USE ARIEL ACE." Oblistrum spread its wings and moved towards Recormem with lightning speed.

"Dodge!" Hugo ordered, too late. The powerful attack hit.

"USE IT AGAIN."

"Counter with dragon pulse!" Hugo was confident this time. To his surprise though, Oblistrum was able to slice through the dragon pulse attack and land another hit with ariel ace.

"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO USE FORGOTTEN SWORD."

Hugo had a bad feeling that one hit from that attack would mean game over.

Oblistrum produced another weapon of darkness.

"Quick! Hyper beam!" Recormem using this attack was truly a sight to behold. Its colourful eyes glowed even brighter as its wings were engulfed in a bright light.

Just as Oblistrum was narrowing in and inches away from pulling off its powerful attack, Recormem struck. Its blast was so powerful it shook the room.

Oblistrum was overwhelmed by this powerful blast. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Hubert, who once again looked to be in pain. As the attack hit, for the third time in the last few minutes, Hugo's head began to ache. He fell to his knees, holding both hands on his head to make the sensation more bearable.

"What's going on?" Asked Ash.

"Perhaps it has something to do with how Oblistrum took Hugo's memory..." Brock guessed.

When the attack was over, Oblistrum could be heard breathing heavily.

Hubert was now lying on the floor. He slowly staggered to his feet, his breathing very much in-sync with Oblistrum's.

"YOU...CANNOT...WILL NOT WIN!" Hubert screamed. "MOVE IN." Oblistrum moved very close to Recormem. Without needing an order, Recormem knew to get away. It flew up towards the ceiling.

"THE TRICK WORKED. ROCK THROW." This was attack Hugo didn't expect Oblistrum to know. It hurled a large number of rocks at Recormem, who was taken totally by surprise. It sustained a lot of damage, and the changing colours of its eyes and wings started to become purely darker colours.

"Darn. Recormem had to recharge. It was unable to use an attack to retaliate." Brock realised. "But that was a smart move."

"Ice beam." Hugo ordered. Recormem shot any icy blast from its eyes, but Oblistrum had little trouble dodging.

"AGAIN." Oblistrum launched another series of rocks which were once again able to make contact. The coulours of Recormem's wings were now featuring only the darkest colours such as black, dark blue and grey.

"Uh-oh. That can't be good." Dawn worried.

"TIME TO END THIS. PUT EVERYTHING INTO ONE LAST FORGOTTEN SWORD."

Taking so much damage had slowed the reactions of Recormem.

"Quick! Recollection!" Hugo ordered. Just as Oblistrum was swooping in for the finishing move, Recormem managed to quickly open up another energy bubble. Taken completely off-guard, Oblistrum flew straight in. Suddenly, the energy bubble expanded, causing both both Pokémon to be concealed within.

"REEEEEEEEEEEE" Recormem screamed as the sounds of an intense fight could be heard from within.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hubert cried, collapsing on the floor in agony.

Just as Hugo thought that might be a good sign, his vision became blurry. After battling to maintain consciousness, he lost, and passed out.

"Get up! Come on! Get up! How else are we gonna get outta here?"

That was a female voice Hugo could hear. He placed it as Dawn's voice. He looked around. He was still in the same hallway. His friends were still trapped within a cage. He looked around some more. Then he noticed something. Recormem and Oblistrum – they were both gone! What could have happened? He struggled to his feet.

"Ugh… what happened?" Hugo asked.

"Your guess is as good as ours." Dawn began. "Our last five minutes we've been staring at two unconscious brothers."

"Phew." Hugo said aloud upon learning that only five minutes had passed.

"The Pokémon were gone after that bubble of energy vanished!" Ash explained.

"Grrrrrrr..." Could be heard from across the hall. It was Hubert, staggering to his feet.

"Must… fight… for the powerful one. GYAAAAAAAAH!" In a burst of energy, he launched Luxray's Pokéball, summoning his last remaining Pokémon. Hugo glanced up at the big screen. It displayed only 2 numbers. One both sides of the screen, the number one. It was time. Hugo had to defeat Luxray and save his brother.

"This is it buddy! Let's do this!" Hugo launched Shinx's pokéball as high as he could, putting all his enthusiasm into it.

The final showdown was about to begin. Shinx vs Luxray.

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" Hubert cried. Somehow, Luxray seemed to understand what this meant. It sprinted at Shinx, attempting a body slam attack. The Pokémon seemed completely possessed.

Shinx was able to leap out of the way, but Luxray came at it again. This time it went for the move high jump kick. With a powerful leap, it barely missed Shinx and crashed into the wall behind, sustaining very minor damage.

"This is weird. Luxray can't learn that, can it?" Dawn asked.

"No it can't." Agreed Brock. "But perhaps its memory has been distorted?"

"It must be due to Oblistrum's defeat!" Ash worked out.

"Vine whip!"

Shinx successfully wrapped a vine around one of Luxray's front legs, causing it to trip.

"Now get on its back!" Shinx successfully got on, getting a good grip.

"GYAAAAAAH!" Hubert cried. Luxray took Hugo and Shinx by surprise when it shot up in the air with an aqua jet attack. Shinx took heavy damage from being engulfed in water and then falling agood distance to the ground.

Luxray landed, and immediately launched a razor leaf attack. With little time to react, Shinx felt the full force of the powerful attack.

Shinx was launched backwards, and ended up at its trainers feet, looking exhausted and beaten up.

"I can't believe this!" How can Hugo fight back against an unpredictable opponent?" Asked Dawn.

"He'll just have to be unpredictable himself..." Ash answered.

Now Luxray began charging a powerful attack which appeared to be solar beam.

"That's more than four moves!" Brock exclaimed. "Is its memory so twisted that its known moves are constantly changing?"

"Quick Shinx. Charge!" Shinx sprinted towards Luxray, positioning itself exactly where it thought the centre of the solar beam attack would be.

Luxray let loose the powerful blast. "Thunder!" Hugo commanded. At the exact moment solar beam hit, Shinx hit itself with a thunder attack. For a brief moment, an electric shield appeared around Shinx. This was enough to reflect the attack, sending it straight back at Luxray.

"Luuuuux!" It cried out in pain as it was hit. It was sent flying backwards, but managed to land on its feet. It was breathing heavily, glaring intensely at its opponent Shinx, who was also breathing heavily.

Suddenly, it lauched another attack. Bullet seed. It sure liked its grass type moves.

"Stone edge!" Hugo ordered, unable to contain the exhiliration this battle was giving him. This was very much unlike his usual, relaxed self.

A series of pointy rocks intercepted the incoming seeds, nullifying the attack.

"Now, finish it with FLAMETHROWER!" Hugo yelled, hoping for maximum power.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hubert screamed. Luxray launched its own powerful flamethrower attack. The two attacks clashed in the middle, equal in strength.

The attacks clashed for some time, with neither side wanting to give even an inch. After a while though, Shinx's flamethrower just barely seemed to gain the upper-hand, and it was enough to overcome Luxray's resistance and hit it with the attack.

"Luuuuux..." Luxray had no chance of withstanding another attack and fainted instantly. Shinx was left just barely standing, breathing very heavily.

"YEEEEEEEEEAH!" Cried Ash, Dawn and Brock in unison.

Hugo, on the other hand, felt exhausted, even though it was his Pokémon who'd been battling. He walked over to Hubert, who had once again collapsed on the floor.

"H-who? W-where?" His brother muttered weakly as he had no strength to move.

"F-food. P-p-please." Hubert stammered.

"Well that line sounds familiar." Dawn thought aloud.

"Hehe. It's a good thing I always keep a few snacks with me." Hugo grinned.

"A FEW?! You must be joking?!" Dawn yelled from across the hallway, referring to his endless supply of snacks.

Hugo gave Hubert something to eat, and Hubert managed a few bites.

"Th-thank you." He muttered. "What's your name, kind man?"

Hugo frowned. It seemed as though Hubert's memory had been totally wiped out.

Suddenly, a deep, booming voice could be heard.

"XXXEFUDSFUHEF"

"Woah! What's going on?" Ash asked.

"XuXHDUWEETWSOJDICIOSFJ"

The cage that had trapped Ash & co. for so long mysteriously opened up a gap between two bars large enough for them to finally get out.

"GREIDVHVETINGS YSDJIAFOUNG ONEEHFS"

"Where's it coming from?" Asked Ash, again.

"GREETING YOUNG ONES. APOLOGIES, AS IT TOOK ME A MOMENT TO GET USED TO YOUR LANGUAGE."

"Who's speaking? Where's this coming from?" Asked Dawn.

"DO NOT FRET, YOUNG ONE. I SPEAK TO YOU ALL FROM WITHIN YOUR MINDS. I AM THE NON-PYHSICAL FORM OF WHAT YOU REFERRED TO AS THE POKÉMON RECORMEM."

"Wait – what's going on?" Asked Ash.

"I MUST EXPLAIN TO YOU ALL. I, RECORMEM, AND THE ONE YOU KNOW AS OBLISTRUM, WE POSSESS THE POWER TO MANIPULATE MINDS. OBLISTRUM SEEKS TO BE WORSHIPPED, HENCE HOW HE CONTROLLED THAT YOUNG MAN AND MANY OF HIS POKÉMON TO CONSTRUCT THIS BUILDING. HOWEVER, HE MUST STAY CALM AT ALL TIMES. IF HE BECOMES ENRAGED, I AM ABLE TO SENSE HIM. HENCE MY ARRIVAL DURING YOUR BATTLE."

"That makes sense, I think?" Said Hugo.

"OUR PHYSICAL EMBODIMENTS ARE GONE FOR NOW. YOU HUMANS WILL BE LONG GONE BEFORE OBLISTRUM IS ABLE TO MAKE ITS RETURN. WITH MY REMAINING STRENGTH, I AM ABLE TO DO YOU ONE FAVOUR. I CAN RESTORE YOUR MEMORY."

"What?!" Exclaimed Brock.

"How?!" Exclaimed Dawn.

"No way!" Exclaimed Ash.

"YOU SHALL RECALL ALL INFORMATION KNOWN TO YOU BEFORE OBLISTRUM TOOK YOUR MEMORY. YOU MUST MERELY STEP INTO THE LIGHT."

Right on cue, a ray of light appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the hall they'd used as a battlefield.

Hugo's friends, Ash, Brock and Dawn, were now standing beside him, looking very pleased.

"Go ahead Hugo. You've earned this." Ash told his friend.

Hugo stepped towards the light, so it was just inches away. He paused for a long moment, wondering about all the people and events he'd be able to recall… too bad he had no intention of stepping in. He turned 180 degrees and marched over to his brother, who was now passed out on the floor, grabbed him under the armpits and carried the very tall man over to the beaming light. With him still unconscious, he carefully laid his brother down on the floor within the light, making sure not to enter himself.

"VERY WELL. THEN I SHALL INSTEAD RESTORE THE MEMORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WHO WAS POSSESSED. IT WILL REQUIRE ALL OF MY REMAINING STRENGTH. AFTERWARDS, I MUST ENTER A LONG SLUMBER."

"That's a very unselfish thing you've done, Hugo." Brock grinned.

"A very strange decision!" Dawn added.

Hugo turned to his friends. "Hubert's memory was totally wiped, right? He'd have to start from a clean slate, not knowing who anyone is, while I have..."

"You've got us!" Ash finished his sentence for him. "And we're here for you anytime you need us! Ash put his hand on Hugo's shoulder.

"Exactly." Hugo smiled. He may not have any recollection of his own family, but now he had a new one.

* * *

Meanwhile, up on the castle roof, a certain cold trio had been watching the whole series of events through a small hall in the ceiling that was in need of repair.

"I thought the plan was, after our crafty escape, we storm back in, heroically defeat Oblistrum and capture Recormem for ourselves." Asked Jessie.

"Yeah Jess, there's one problem with that plan. Since when are we brave and heroic?" James replied.

"I much preferred our actaul course of action – sitting on da sidelines and watchin'!" Added Meowth. "Now move it yous two. Let's hightail it outta da cold! We dot one more chapter to appear in!"

"Looks like Team Rocket's chickening out again!" They all shouted together as they made their exit.

* * *

At last, Hubert began to regain consciousness. "H-hugo, I'm so sorry. For everything. And to all your friends too. I've caused you so much trouble." He said weakly.

Hugo and his three best friends Ash, Dawn and Brock didn't feel the slightest bit irritated. In fact, they all smiled at him as he sat on the cold floor.

"Come on, brother." Hugo said happily, grabbing him by the hand and helping him to his feet. "We've got some catching up to do."

* * *

 **Happy new year! The next chapter is the last one. A lot will be explained! If you are one of the small minority who has read every chapter, sincerely, thank you. I hope you've enjoyed the story, and please feel free to give feedback, even if it's negative. And even if you've barely read 2 words and are just skipping through, thank you for checking out my story. The later chapters have sometimes taken months to release due to a lack of spare time on my part, but there's now just one chapter to go. It will be out very soon :) Until next time, thanks for reading and enjoy 2018!**


	22. Everything Is Explained (Sort Of)

Several months have passed since Hugo's encounter with Oblistrum. He's been on many adventures since then – he's witnessed Dawn losing in the final of whatever it is she was doing. He's witnessed his three friends 'chosen' as guardians for the trio of lake Pokémon. And he's even witnessed his good buddy Ash get one up on his rival Paul. Hugo knew this was coming, he still remembered when he obliterated Paul in battle towards the beginning of their journey. Speaking of total obliteration, Ash appeared to be on the wrong side of it at the moment. He was battling in the semi-final of the Sinnoh League, and he was already down 3 Pokémon, possibly about to become 4…

"Darkrai, Dream eater!" Tobias commanded. His dark type Pokémon's eyes glowed, indicating Ash's poor Sceptile was in big trouble.

That's right. Ash's opponent had a Darkrai! It's not often you come up against someone with a legendary Pokémon. No wonder Ash was struggling so much…

A look of determination was in Ash's eyes as he wouldn't give up, despite his bleak current scenario.

"Sceptile, come on! Snap out of it! Wake up Sceptile!"

Even from all the way over in the crowd, Hugo could clearly hear Ash's yelling. Incredibly, his Sceptile responded instantly.

"Alright, Sceptile use Leaf blade!" In a move that even stunned his legendary opponent, Ash's Sceptile was able to defeat Darkrai with a swift yet powerful strike.

Sitting in the crowd with him, Dawn, Brock, and their new friend Barry, were delighted with Ash's resilience.

Witnessing this incredible trainer, Hugo couldn't help but wonder about this guy's past and how he became so powerful. How did he capture the legendary Darkrai?

Then Hugo started to wonder about his own past. He knew minor details based on what his brother Hubert had told him, perhaps he should've stayed with him to learn even more. But Hubert was busy with his new job back in the village, being possessed by Olbistrum had left somewhat of a mental scar on the man, and he needed a break from battling and Pokémon. His new job consisted of him finding and supporting anyone affected by Olbistrum in any way, and helping them cope.

Hugo, on the other hand, had continued with his journey through Sinnoh. He and his brother were about to turn 21 years old, or at least that's how long it had been since they were found as babies. Watching the Sinnoh League, he'd seen trainers as old as 40 competing with the best, so Hugo was well aware that he could potentially have a long battling career ahead of him, if that's what he decided to do with his life. Hubert had given him his Tyranitar back, so his team, now consisting of a full party of 6, were looking really strong. Just like Ash's Sinnoh team, they were now all fully evolved with the exception of Shinx.

Unknown to Hugo, there was a story behind how he winded up being tossed through a portal, how he vaguely remembered Ash and how Team Rocket recognised him. It's a story nobody knew the full details of, so he'd never know the full truth. But here it is:

* * *

 **Hugo's story**

Back in the Village of Giants, Hugo was growing more and more concerned about his brother. When he seems to keep going missing each day, Hugo secretly follows him to where he's been going. He discovers him in the rural mountains beginning to construct something with his Pokémon. After secretly observing him for a moment, he decides to confront him.

"Brother, what is going on?! What are you doing here?!"

Hubert turns around to look at Hugo, and by this point it's clear that he's totally possessed. His eyes are mysteriously shrouded in pitch black darkness.

"FOOL. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME HERE. BEGONE."

With that, he tosses a pokéball, summoning his legendary partner Oblistrum.

"NOW YOUR MEMORIES WILL FEED THE POWERFUL ONE." Hubert tells him.

With something clearly not right, Hugo runs as fast as he can, desparate to get away. The snowy landscape slowed him down, however, and things looked bleak as the speed Oblistrum loomed over.

Giving it everything he possibly could, Hugo ran and ran and ran.

"YOU SHALL REMEMBER NOTHING." A voice boomed from behind.

Oblistrum launched a powerful attack. What appeared to be a sort of portal appeared directly in from of Hugo. The portal clearly had its own gravitational field as Hugo felt himself being pulled towards it somehow. With every passing second, the portal's pull grew stronger. He did his best to remain standing where he was, but it was becoming more difficult.

"Why do you do this? Hugo asked, directing his question at Oblistrum rather than Hubert. It was Hubert who replied, from the distance. "I NEED MEMORIES." He told him.

Everything seemed hopeless. Just as Hugo was about to be sucked in, an unbelievable stroke of luck occurred.

A Pokémon had been hiding under the snow. As the portal pulled it, it was launched towards it. As this happened, it flew straight into Hugo, hitting him directly in the face. As Hugo was hit, he could see that this Pokémon was the psychic type, Abra. Frightened, the Abra used the move teleport in order to get away, bringing Hugo with it.

* * *

Hugo found himself teleported a few hundred yards away, towards the top of a steep, snowy hill. He immediately started to slide down uncontrollably, while the Abra that had saved him merely levitated elsewhere. His uncontrollable slide lasted almost a minute – by the time he reached the bottom his clothes were covered in snow. He was outside the village's outskirts now. Glancing up to the top of the hill, he saw his brother standing there, glaring at him. "I WILL CATCH YOU OFF GUARD. AND YOU WILL FORGET." He warned him.

Hugo did not tell anyone about what had happened. Feeling low on confidence, he spent the evening sat quietly in the home of Margaret – the woman who had taken care of him. Although the truth was, she took turns with several other villagers throughout his childhood, each having their hand in raising him alongside his brother.

Every part the battle enthusiast, he decided to watch the Hoenn League. He tuned in to see a battle in the second round. There were two young men battling it out. A chubby ginger called Morrison versus some overexcited guy with a cool looking cap called Ash. As Hugo watched this battle, he couldn't believe the effort the two trainers were putting into it. It came down to Ash's Glalie against Morrison's Metang. Just as it appeared that Morrison had the upper hand, an impressive manoeuvre by Glalie sealed victory for Ash. There was something about this Ash character that Hugo found massively inspiring. The guy was so determined and put his heart and soul into what he did. By watching this, Hugo was inspired to set out on an impossible mission.

* * *

The next morning, Hugo decided to run away. He left everything behind, without telling anyone. Well, he did leave a note for one person, but that's a story for another time…

First he made his way towards Snowpoint city. He was forced to make his way on foot. While travelling, he encountered an old woman, who was sat in the corner of a field, curled in a ball, appearing to be crying.

Wondering what was wrong and believing he should help, Hugo apporached this woman.

"Hi, are you ok?" He asked. To his surprise, the woman turned around to reveal the same dark eyes that Hubert possessed yesterday. "NO MATTER WHERE YOU RUN, I CAN FIND YOU." She told him. She launched a pokéball, revealing Oblistrum. Hugo immediately realised that this Pokémon had possessed multiple people, and perhaps all of the possessed people were able to summon its physical form. Would defeating this beast save these people?

No time to think about it, as Hugo was once again chased by this terrifying foe. He leaped over a ditch separating the field from the footpath leading towards the city. It was about to launch an attack until it heard something. The sound of trumpets, trombones, drum sets and other instruments could be heard. They were being approached by the Snowpoint City annual parade. The event was being shown on TV, so there were cameramen and camerawomen filming the occasion. There was also a Helicopter flying above, getting a birds eye view.

Oblistrum, clearly not wanting to get into public view, immediately retreated into the distance. Hugo was relieved. He had gotten lucky twice within 24 hours.

* * *

Was it possible to outsmart a legendary Pokémon? Hugo was not sure. But he was going to try. He knew it recognised him. If he continued to stroll around in the open he was going to get caught sooner or later. He hatched a plan. He needed to make himself impossible to recognise.

Having been mysteriously discovered at birth, there was no record of Hugo kept on any computers. His brother had challenged the Snowpoint City gym and lost. But Hugo himself, knowing he is no match for his brother, decided he was not ready to take on the gym. Therefore he'd never participated in an official battle. There was no record of him at all. He'd be tough to track down.

Oblistrum was controlling Hubert's mind – therefore, it probably knew which Pokémon Hugo possessed, just like Hubert knew. It knew about his two partners – Shinx and Kabutops. There was only one problem. Based on what his friend Mark had told him before he ran off, his Kabutops was said to have a heroic past. It's unclear what happened, but records suggest that his Kabutops sacrificed itself to defeat Oblistrum many years ago. Of course, Hugo had gotten the fossil restored thanks to modern technology, but he had a bad feeling that as long as he possessed Kabutops, Oblistrum would be able to find him. It would seek revenge on the Pokémon that caused it so much trouble. He explained this to his Kabutops, and it was clear that the prehistoric Pokémon understood this. Kabutops seemed to like Hugo, so it was disappointed but fully understanding and co-operative. What an awesome Pokémon to have!

* * *

On his way through Sinnoh, Hugo passed through a place known as Solaceon town. There were two people there he needed to talk to.

Upon knocking on the door of what he hoped was the correct building, he was greeted by a man with a warm smile, probably acquired from years of practise at greeting people.

"Good day young man, my goodness aren't you tall?! What brings you to Solaceon Town day care?"

"Hi, I would like to leave my Kabutops in your care please. Would that be ok?"

The man's smile made Hugo feel so welcome.

"Ah, Kabutops! A rare Pokémon indeed. Why don't you come in? We'll discuss this alongside my wife. Just watch your head on the doorframe."

"Hi there… wow, you're very tall." The man's wife greeted him, with an equally warm smile.

"So if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to leave my Kabutops here if you don't mind."

"Certainly." She told him. "And for how long? A week? Two weeks?"

"Well actually..." Hugo began, realising he hadn't thought this through. "I don't really know. I'm not too sure when I'll be back."

"Oh dear..." The woman frowned.

"Young man, I am sorry, but this is not a place to dump your unwanted Pokémon if you no longer want them."

"Okay, what's the longest time you allow Pokémon to be dropped off for?" Hugo asked.

The couple made eye contact for a moment.

"Please allow us to discuss this in private." The man asked, and they made their way into the kitchen. Hugo felt really awkward. He looked outside. There was a teenage girl with bluish hair playing with a Shinx in the garden. There were also many other Pokémon present. A large variety of species.

The couple returned with some paperwork. "Considering that my husband and I are big fans of Kabutops, we are willing to make an exception for you. We will take care of your Kabutops for up to six months."

"That's great!" Hugo beamed.

"Now if you'll be able to make your payment and just sing here." The woman told him.

"FIVE HUNDRED POKÉ DOLLARS?! Oh no. I'm sorry. I can't possibly afford that." Hugo frowned.

"I'm sorry." The woman frowned. "We can't offer a lower price than that. I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere." She explained.

"Oh well, thank you anyway!" Hugo tried to cheer up.

Just as he was making his exit, the girl he'd seen earlier through the window entered the building.

"Mum! Shinx won't eat its food again!" She shouted in a panic.

"Oh no, not again!" The mother answered. "It's already so skinny. Why won't it eat it? Did you give it the right flavour, Angie?"

"Yes, of course I did!" Angie replied. "Shinx never eats any of the flavours though."

Hugo had just finished putting his shoes back on as he decided to help.

"Hi, I know it's not really any of my business, but I also have a Shinx as my partner and mine doesn't like that food either." He explained.

"Really?! You have a Shinx too? Can I see it?" Angie asked excitedly.

"Sure thing." Hugo smiled, sending out his partner.

"Shiiiinx!" His partner said hapilly. It wondered over to Angie's Shinx, which was at her feet, and began talking to it in a language only Pokémon can understand. It was clear to see that Angie's Shinx was much skinnier.

"But yours looks so healthy!" Angie exclaimed. "How do you get it to eat?"

"Well I live quite far north from here, and we have a lot of Snover. So I actually gave feet some food made especially for Snover out of desperation, but it loved it! Here. I have some in my bag. Your Shinx can try it." Hugo attempted to feed Angie's Shinx, who seemed reluctant to approach him at first, but once it caught a whiff of the food in his hand it gobbled it down, looking very happy afterwards.

"I-I don't believe it. Now I know what to feed Shinx! Thank you so much!" Angie was almost in tears she was so overjoyed. She gave Hugo one of those awkward hugs where one person is so much taller than the other, made even more awkward as he didn't dare to hug back since her parents were standing right behind her.

"Hehe. Well I have to get going. Thanks guys." Hugo said, eager to leave. He walked out of the door and was about to shut it.

"Wait." Called Angie's Father.

"I am touched by what I have just witnessed. You have done my daughter a great favour. Please, as our thanks, take this." He handed Hugo an egg.

"We were raising some Pokémon and my goodness, we were surprised! A Pokémon was holding an egg. We don't know how it got there, but we'd like you to have it." It was a jade green egg with no design.

"No, I couldn't possibly…

"Please, I insist. Take it as an apology for us not taking your Kabutops in. We're very busy here at the day care. You'd actually be doing us a favour taking it off our hands so it's one less Pokémon to care for.

"Wow, thanks. I don't know what to say…"

"Will you be attending Pokémon Summer camp next year?" Angie asked.

"I doubt it." Hugo smiled. "But you never know. Perhaps I could find some friends and go there as part of our journey around Sinnoh? Haha."

Hugo departed Solaceon Town shortly after that. He did of course meet Angie and her parents again during his journey with Ash, and they remembered him, explaining their encounter with him after hearing of his memory loss, so this is the only part of this story present day Hugo actually knows of.

* * *

Some time later, Hugo was just departing Hearthome city as part of his long journey to Sandgem town. He'd been travelling at quite a pace, determined to reach his destination as fast as he could. His egg that he'd been taking care of began to glow and before he knew it he was holding a baby Larvitar. Although he was pleased with the new addition to his team, he remained focused on his objective of reaching Sandgem Town.

 **(Hugo's encounter with Professor Rowan is shown in Chapter 2)**

* * *

Hugo was eventually forced to make the decision to release Kabutops into the wild. **(See chapter 11)** Next, he needed to hide his identity. This meant he'd unfortunately have to refrain from using Shinx in battle, due to the possibility of Oblistrum recognising it. He also needed a disguise. He'd heard of some good clothes shops in a nearby place called Twinleaf Town.

* * *

After arriving in Twinleaf town Hugo made his way to their cheapest clothes shop. He purchased a black hoodie and balaclava. He went into the changing room and tried them on. Perfect fits. In his new, secretive attire, he made his way over to the checkout when – OOF! He wasn't watching where he was going. He bumped into some girl with blue hair who looked just a little younger than him. He knocked her onto the floor, causing her to drop her shopping basket containing a large amount of items.

"I'm so sorry." He told her. Embarrassed, he gathered all of her stuff for her. "No need to worry." She smiled. "Accidents happen. But tell me, why are you hiding your face?" She asked. "Well...um...it's a long story." He explained. "Um… sorry. I've gotta go." And with that, he rushed off.

"What a weirdo." The blue haired girl from Twinleaf town said to herself.

'Phew… that was embarrassing. At least, chances are, I'll never see that person again.' Hugo thought to himself.

* * *

Time for the final phase of his plan. Oblistrum was obviously most influential in Sinnoh. Hugo had to leave. He could just barely scrape together the money for a one-way boat trip to another region. His options were limited. He could afford to travel to either Kanto or Johto. He tossed a coin to decide. Heads Kanto. Tails Johto. It landed on heads. So off the Kanto he went.

* * *

He arrived in a small town called Pallet Town. Keeping himself secretive, he stayed in Pallet Town for two weeks trying to decide what to do next. He battled a few trainers with his Larvitar in order to win prize money to afford to stay at the Pokémon Centre and buy food, and was able to win the majority of his battles. He did lose to some cocky guy named Gary Oak, but that was his only loss among a number of wins.

Remembering his two encounters with Oblistrum, he was determined to improve his level of fitness so he'd be able to escape if he ended up in the same situation again. He worked out a lot, which meant he ate a lot too. Apparently Larvitar need to eat a mountain of soil before evolution, but Hugo's Larvitar evolved while eating its dinner just under two months after being hatched from its egg. It was supposed to take at least four months for a Larvitar to evolve, so Hugo realised he'd been working out so much that he and his Pokémon had twice the appetite of your average guy.

Hugo had now been staying in Pallet Town for an entire month. He really liked it there. It seemed like the perfect location for young aspiring trainers to begin their journey from. The famous Professor Oak lived there too, and Hugo really wanted to meet him, but did not want any of the residents to learn of his identity. He had explained to Nurse Joy that he kept to himself because of special personal circumstances, and she respected that. However, having spent so long living there, many of the locals were starting to speculate about him, and he overheard numerous instances of people talking about him when they thought he wasn't listening. They were growing more suspicious of him. After one month of staying there he decided he needed to leave. But he had no destination.

* * *

Then one day, he was on his way back from his secret workout location on the outskirts of town, a decent sized field with a small hill blocking it from the view of anyone in town. It was out of the way of anything interesting so nobody seemed to go there at all. As he was making his way through town, he noticed something, or rather, someone. He recognised this person. It was Ash Ketchum. The person he'd watched on TV fighting in the Sinnoh League. He wondered what an inspirational character like him got up to in his daily life. He decided to observe him while staying hidden. While watching Ash, he could make out a bit of what was being said, mainly due to Ash talking so loud due to being so easily excitable. He learned that Ash was taking a short, month long break from journeying to spend time with his family and his Pokémon, since being at Professor Oak's lab meant he wasn't limited to seeing just six of them at once. Today marked the end of his stay, though, and he was about to meet up with his friend, apparently called Brock, who had also been spending time with his family this past month. However, three more of his friends, Misty, May and Max, had paid him a surprise visit. This Misty character seemed to REALLY like Ash. Not that Ash noticed.

* * *

Shortly before setting off on his journey, Ash encountered three peculiar characters referring to themselves as Team Rocket. He'd seen a few of these Team Rocket grunts during his time in Pallet town, but these three seemed goofier than the rest. They were absolutely obliterated by Ash and his Snorlax, and sent flying into the distance.

Hugo decided to find out where these guys were going to end up. He ran as quickly as he could in the direction the trio were launched – he'd gotten much faster recently.

He found the trio stuck in a tree on the outskirts of Route One.

"So who exactly are you supposed to be?" He asked them, without revealing his own face.

The trio remained lying among the tree branches for a moment looking in pain, until they suddenly burst into life.

"Prepare for trouble from beyond the skies." The woman began, springing to her feet on the ground.

"From beyond the stars, a nasty surprise!. The man joined in.

"An evil as old as the galaxy..."

"...Sent here to fulfill our destiny."

"Plus, there's me!" Said the… Meowth? Hugo had never heard a Pokémon talk before.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"And Meowth are the names."

"Anywhere there's peace in the universe..."

"...Team Rocket will be there to make everything worse."

"Woooooobbuffet"

"Cool. So, you guys follow Ash around, right?"

"We do more dan follow, pal, we're gonna get dat Pikachu one day." Meowth replied.

"Yeah, sure. Well, if you ever need help, I'll be around." And with that Hugo dashed off.

"The nerve of him-" Jessie fumed. "Team Rocket never need help."

* * *

"HELP! WE NEED HELP!" Team Rocket cried.

After being blasted off by Pikachu, they'd landed in the wavy sea. And they were in trouble. You could even make it double…

"We're drowning!" Called out James.

"Help!" Cried Jessie.

"Dis Cat don't like gettin' his paws wet!" Cried Meowth.

Just as things were looking bad, a giant wave approached. Surfing atop was none other than our tall protagonist. As he came past, in a feat of strength, he grabbed all three of the Rocket Grunts, scooping them up in his arms. Unfortunately, this off-set his balance and he fell into the water himself. Luckily, though, the trio were able to grab onto his surf board and use it to safely return to land. In the meantime, Hugo was a strong enough swimmer to simply swim ashore.

Throughout all of this, Hugo was only wearing a pair of shorts, so the trio were able to see his identity. Luckily, they were unaware that he was the same mysterious character that had been following Ash around just like them.

"Th-thank you." James spluttered.

"No big deal." Hugo grinned.

"We'll get ya back one day pal." Meowth offered.

"Doubt it, but thanks." Hugo smiled.

And with that, he grabbed his board and took off…

* * *

Throughout the next couple of months, Hugo secretly followed Ash & co. around on their journey. He battled other trainers while he was at it, but never revealed his name or used his Shinx. He was just some mysterious guy with a Pupitar. No way would Oblistrum discover it was him… or so he thought.

Hugo was truly inspired by Ash and his friends. One day, he decided to challenge him to a battle, remaining as secretive as possible. Hugo and his Pupitar were no match for the power of Ash and Pikachu.

Another month passed and Hugo challenged Ash to a rematch, again refusing to reveal himself. He put up a better fight but again Pupitar lost.

Even more time passed by, and Hugo was full of determination. He challenged Ash to one last battle and used all of his might. The battle was so intense that his Pupitar evolved halfway through. Again though, incredibly, Hugo and Tyranitar lost to Ash and Pikachu.

Hugo couldn't think any more highly of this incredible trainer. However, he had another problem. There were wanted posters appearing in some towns they visited. Posters with Hugo's picture! Somehow, Oblistrum was spreading its influence to Kanto.

After Ash completed his journey through Kanto, Hugo was unsure what to do next. He decided he'd toughened himself up throughout his time in Kanto, though. He headed for one final showdown with his brother Hubert. A long journey brought him all the way back to Snowpoint city. However, just as he was departing, a hand grabbed his shoulder and he was teleported. He'd been caught. He appeared before Hubert. Immediately, he grabbed his hoodie and balaclava and threw them to the side – he wouldn't be needing them any more. By this point, words were not needed. Hugo launched two pokéballs. One summoned Shinx, the other Tyranitar. Hubert sent out an army of Pokémon – Magmortar, Tangrowth, Luxio and of course, Oblistrum. Hugo commanded for his Pokémon to attack, but then he noticed it – the big portal behind them… and you should know the rest of the story. **(The final part of the story is in Chapter 11, to see where Hugo ends up, see chapter 1).**

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Ash had been defeated in the Sinnoh League. But nevertheless, Hugo was proud of his friend. He'd come a long way on his journey. So had the whole gang – except maybe Brock, who spent most of the journey flirting with nurses and officers. What would be in store for Hugo and his friends next? Another region? Another adventure? Another story? Who knew? But whatever happened, he would cherish his memories of his time in Sinnoh forever. And this time, nobody was going to take them away.

* * *

 **Although this storyline was planned from the beginning, I have made several changes including scrapping the bold speech and different POV's. Regardless, I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

 **This is not the end for Hugo. In fact, it is barely the beginning. He has another adventure within him, and this one's even bigger…**

* * *

A few years ago a young man by the name of Ask Ketchum travelled through his home region of Kanto. Now, some time after his journey ended in a last 16 defeat in the Indigo league, much has changed within the region.

"I've made a decision. I'm going to Kalos." Hugo suspected this may happen. His good friend Ash was leaving him for another journey.

"Good luck man. You'll conquer Kalos while I conquer Kanto!" After an emotional farewell, the two friends parted ways.

"This is it team. We'll conquer all the gyms of Kanto and aim for victory in the league!" Hugo states confidently to his Pokémon team. He's now changed his clothes slightly. He now wears a plain white vest with black shorts that almost reach his knees and black trainers.

Full of optimism, Hugo sets out on a journey to collect gym badges. Or so he thinks… As if anything's ever gonna be that simple.

"You should leave while you still can young man. This place is much more deadly than it seems..." An elderly woman warns as she lay on her death bed.

 **A seemingly simple adventure takes an unexpected twist…**

"So how about it young man? A friendly double battle." An arrogant man challenges Hugo.

'Something's wrong. Is that a gun in his pocket?'

"This is what you must do to achieve your destiny." An old man now speaks to Hugo, who looks upset due to recent events.

 **Reunited with friends much sooner than expected…**

We see Dawn sat at home in Sinnoh. She's staring at a photo framed at her bedside. It's of herself, Ash, Brock and Hugo. As she stares, a sad smile forms on her face. A tear can be seen sliding down her cheek onto the floor below.

A news reporter is now shown on TV. "...As a result of this, all gyms in Kanto will now be closed until this issue can be resolved. The next Indigo league has now been cancelled."

We now see Brock pacing around at his home in Pewter city. "I can't just sit around twiddling my Thumbs. I need to take action and I need to do it now!"

 **Together, they will discover the Pokémon world's darker side…**

We now briefly see several different scenes all focusing on Hugo. First he's using two trees to do some pull-ups. Next he's engaged in an intense battle with an unknown opponent. He appears to have the upper hand. After that, he's lying on a rocky floor clutching his Arm appearing to be in a lot of pain. Finally he's stood very close to the edge of a cliff which appears to be on Mt Moon. It overlooks a good portion of Kanto. The shot is from behind so his facial expression can't be seen. As we zoom out, we see Shinx stood close beside him as the wind rustles the grass around them.

 **The sequel to the anime-based story 'I Don't Remember' where Hugo discovers a darker side to the Pokémon World!**

"And who might your parents be young man?" A stranger asks.

"My… parents..." Hugo looks very deep in thought for a brief moment until the scene changes again.

 **When evil is afoot, can our strong hero take down evil while dealing with the countless issues arising from his forgotten past?**

Hugo and Shinx battle against a Snorlax belonging to an unknown trainer.

 **Coming in 2018.**

Hugo can be seen laughing hysterically. Shinx looks up to him, confused, as if to ask why he's laughing. "You know what's funny? At one point I actually believed I'd just be going on a journey to collect badges. BWAHAHA!"

WARNING: Unlike its predecessor, this story will be much darker. Contains strong violence, sexual references, mild language and scenes of serious injury/death. Rated M for mature audiences only.

* * *

 **That's right! A new adventure! I'm super excited! The first couple of chapters are already written. If you thought this story was ok, you'll love the next one. There's gonna be gags, intense moments, and quite a lot of feels :-(**

 **THE PLAN IS TO RELEASE IT ON FEBRUARY 7TH TO MARK THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THIS STORY, BUT IT MIGHT COME EARLIER THAN THAT.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading guys. Enjoy the Pokémon games and anime, and I hope you have a fantastic 2018. See you soon!**


End file.
